Taking Everything
by Fallen Angel Awakened
Summary: When Reid is taken by a seemingly unorganised unsub, will the team be able to find him before he loses everything? Warning: whump, descriptions/implications of torture.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: Hi all! this is my first fanfic that I'm confident enough to publish, so I'm posting it before I have a chance to change my mind! I hope everyone enjoys and please, please review :) I value constructive criticism and would love some suggestions in later chapters so I can please everyone that takes the time to read my story. I hope you enjoy!**

 **(Oh and I unfortunately do not own criminal minds or any of its characters.)**

 **Let's begin!**

* * *

"Uuugghhh." Reid groaned and rubbed his tired eyes as his cellphone rudely announced he had received a text, interrupting his already fitful slumber. The young genius had dreamed of Maeve again, they were in the library as usual, but instead of dancing together, Maeve stood just out of Spencer's reach and he couldn't get to her. Reid shook his head to clear his mind and reached out to grab his phone, The Narrative of John Smith clattering to the floor as he retrieved the small electronic device. Spencer had managed to fall asleep on the couch yet again. The clock on his cell phone read 6:52 A.M. This early on a Saturday? This case had to be bad. Well, worse than usual.

A simple message from Hotch was on the screen, 'Pasadena. Wheels up in thirty. Will present on the plane.'

As Reid forced himself off the couch and stretched on the way to his bedroom, he received another text, this one from Morgan. **Hey Pretty Boy. Need a ride?**

Reid quickly typed back, **Sure. Thanks.**

Moments later Morgan's message came up, **No problem. Be there in 15**.

Reid turned his phone off after that, knowing there was no need to respond to the last message. Reid set his phone down on the bed before getting dressed. His outfit was typical, black slacks, white button down shirt, purple sweater vest and perpetually crooked brown tie. He fastened his watch over his left shirtsleeve and tugged on his converse high tops before heading to the bathroom.

Reid's hair was getting shaggy and he had a severe case of bedhead, but the brunette mane was no match for a comb and some water. The young agent splashed some cold water on his face in an attempt to lighten the dark purple circles under his bloodshot, chocolate eyes, but the cool liquid only succeeded in shocking the young agent awake.

Looking at his watch and seeing that Morgan would be there in seven minutes, Reid grabbed his messenger bag, go bag, cell phone and locked the door on his way out.

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

"Thanks." Reid smiled up at JJ as she set a fresh, hot, overly sweet cup of coffee in front of him. The jet had been in the air for ten minutes, and Garcia was about to present the case. It had to be pretty awful for them to be flying out at 7:25 in the morning, not even knowing what they were facing.

Suddenly, Garcia's bright face popped up on the laptop screen that the BAU team was gathered around. "Hello my lovelies, and note how I didn't say 'good morning'." Garcia's usually peppy tone was slightly off kilter, most likely from exhaustion and a gruesome case. Pictures popped up on the screen as Garcia resumed her fast paced speech. "Three weeks ago, seventeen year old Jesse Moore and thirty three year old Tom Adams were reported missing by family members. One week later they were discovered dead in an alley, stripped down to their boxers. They were raped, beaten and had some… parts removed."

"Bicep muscles and genitals." Reid furrowed his eyebrows as he read from his case file. "That's an odd combination."

"Yeah. Cause of death was strangulation." Garcia's face popped up again momentarily before more pictures covered her face. "Nine days ago, eighteen year old Mallory Campbell and twenty six year old Amanda Stevenson went missing. They were found two days ago again in an alley, this time completely naked, also raped, also beaten. All of their nails, finger and toe, were removed, their teeth were broken, noses almost completely missing, hair ripped out, and eyes and breasts were stabbed but not removed. Cause of death for them was blood loss."

"Why do the police think the murders are related?" Blake asked from her spot across the aisle from the booth where Hotch, Morgan, Reid and JJ were seated. Rossi was perched next to Blake, concentrating hard on the crime scene photos on his tablet.

"Because the same message was left at each scene." Two photos of brick walls appeared on the screen, both walls had identical messages neatly written in cursive on them.

"'Nothing.'" Hotch stated simply, reading the carefully painted script.

"Some message." Rossi scoffed, clearly slightly baffled in his sleep deprived state.

"It could mean a number of things." Reid stepped in, talking to himself more than anyone else. "He left the bodies in an alley, not posed, undressed, near dumpsters. The unsub could think of his victims as useless, worthless, trash, and therefore, nothing."

"We'll have to go over victimology and visit dumpsites and possible abduction sites to be sure." JJ said, turning off her tablet.

"His MO is all over the place. So is his victimology. It points towards the unsub being young and inexperienced." Rossi says.

"But the fact that he abducts two people at once suggest he's experienced." JJ points out.

"Which means we hardly have anything to go on with this profile so far." Morgan was clearly frustrated with this fact, as was everyone on the plane.

"When we land," Hotch began, "Morgan and JJ I want you to go the coroner. Dave and Blake, you two go to the latest dumpsite and see what you can find. Reid and I will go to the station and get set up. For now, everyone should try to get some sleep." Nobody argued with Hotch's final order.

While the rest of the team settled down for rest, Reid feigned sleep and balanced a file on his knees. He had taken the seat in the very back of the plane, facing the back wall so nobody could see he wasn't resting. After dreaming of having Maeve just slip between his fingers every time he reached for her hand made him unable to resume his less than peaceful slumber that this case had interrupted, so he just stared at his file, feeling as though there should be an obvious answer that they just couldn't see. Something that should pop off the page and tell him exactly why this unsub was using different methods of torture and killing his victims in different ways. The fact that the pieces wouldn't just fall into place frustrated Reid more than anything. The knowing and not knowing at the same time; having his brain betray him.

After what seemed like only minutes but was clearly several hours, Reid was startled by the hand on his shoulder. It took the genius a moment to hear Morgan's voice.

"…five minutes." The older agent said. "Kid, did you hear me?"

Reid looked up at the man that had come to be like a big brother to him. "Uh, sorry no. what was that?"

Morgan chuckled as the young agents eyebrows furrowed. "We're landing in five minutes. Get ready." With that, Morgan went back to where he was sleeping on the couch, slipped his leather jacket on and slid his go bag over his shoulder.

Reid watched his best friend go, then slid all of the case papers into the paper file before sliding the sheets carefully into his messenger bag and slipping it over his shoulder. He knew the team was missing something that would make the entire case click, and he was ready to find out what that variable was.

* * *

I really hope you enjoyed my first chapter! Please review! I will update in two days for anyone who wants to stick around for more! till then, 3 3 bye!


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: I'm baaaaaaack. Thank you to everyone that has followed/favorited/reviewed! it means the world to me that you guys are enjoying my story so far and I was so excited that I finished this chapter sooner than expected. Please, please please review! I love reading comments about my works.**

 **(I do not own criminal minds or their characters)**

 **Let's go!  
**

* * *

"Are you the BAU team?" an officer called as Reid followed Hotch into the crowded California police station.

"Yes, I'm SSA Aaron Hotchner and this is Dr. Spencer Reid." Hotch said, shaking hands with the man. Reid sent him a small wave rather than a handshake, preferring not to exchange pathogens with the strange man.

"I'm Detective Andrews. We have a room back here for your team." The two agents followed Andrews down a hall and the trio entered a large room set up with a round table, multiple white boards, clear maps of Pasadena, crime scene photos and a box of relevant files. "Are you guys it, or are there more members of your unit?"

"The rest of us are in the field, looking at the most recent dumpsite and the bodies of the victims." Hotch's tone was dismissive as he began pinning photos up on the wall.

"Well, let me know if you need anything." Andrews said nearly over his shoulder as he turned to leave.

"We will, thank you." Reid said as he proceeded to draw black dots in each alley where bodies were dumped, and red dots where each of the victims lived on a clear, Pasadena street map. "He's already all over the map with victims, literally." He said to Hotch, gesturing for him to come over and look at what he'd done. "None of the victims lived within 20 miles of each other."

"Garcia is looking into backgrounds right now, seeing if there's a connection between any of them. If these victims are random, there's no telling where he'll strike next."

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

"All of their stomachs and intestines were completely empty. They definitely were not fed." The coroner said, brushing a strand of long, blonde hair away from her bright, blue eyes. "There are tract marks on each victim's left hand, so they were on IV fluid to keep them alive, but there was no evidence of it in their blood, so it was probably taken out a day or two before they were killed."

"Were the genitals and biceps of the male victims removed post or anti mortem?" JJ asked. The sight of these defaced bodies was one of the worst she could recall seeing.

"Post. There was little blood in the areas that were cut to retrieve the parts."

"So it's not torture." Morgan wondered aloud. "They must be trophies. The female victims were missing hair, noses and nails. Were those removed post mortem as well?"

"No," the coroner cringed, uncovering the faces of the two girls. "Everything done to the girls was done while they were alive."

"So it's about torturing the girls and emasculating the men post mortem?" JJ looked to Morgan and he had the same look in his eyes, the one that said 'this guy's MO is all over the place.'

"Would the male victims have survived if they had been alive for the amputations?" Morgan asked.

The coroner raised one eyebrow. "No. Not both at least. Maybe one or the other, but both would cause too much blood loss, especially in the younger boy. They would have died much sooner. Although that didn't seem to be a problem for the women."

"How much medical training would someone need to know removing muscles and reproductive organs would cause fatal blood loss?"

"Not much. Considering the size of the cuts removing entire muscles would leave behind and the fact that sex ed. is mandatory in schools, this person could have been a sixth grader that paid attention in health class."

"Well that doesn't narrow it down much." JJ said, slightly disappointed that it didn't take an MD to know about the amount of blood vessels in the male reproductive system. "Thank you for your time and report."

"No problem." The coroner smiled. "Do me a favor and find this guy before I have to perform another autopsy on one of his victims."

"We'll do our best ma'am." Morgan smirked slightly. "We will do our best."

 **CMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCMCM**

"Hey Blake," Reid looked up as Hotch answered his phone and put it on speaker, "what did you guys find?"

"There was nothing special about either dumpsite, Hotch." Blake's voice came through the phone. "They were just alleys. One between a bar and a restaurant and another between an apartment building and a barber shop. Both were lined with dumpsters, but that was the only similarity."

Rossi's voice came through the phone next. "I think it's all about what the unsub does while he has his victims. Unless there is something similar in victimology, because these dumpsites are just that, dumpsites."

"Garcia should be calling us any minute with info on the victims and their families. When she does, we'll have her dial you in." Reid said, just before Hotch hung up.

"When are the families coming in?" Reid asked, surprised that he hadn't seen at least one member of any of the victim's families.

"We're going to them. This afternoon. You're talking to Amanda Stevenson's fiancé." Hotch's tone was flat to the untrained ear, but Reid could pick out the subtle change in his voice; the one that told him he could empathize with the fiancé better than anyone.

"Alright, for now we should-" Hotch' phone rang, cutting Reid off. "Wait for Garcia to call."

Hotch answered the phone. "Dial Rossi and Morgan in, Garcia." He said.

"You got it my liege." Garcia's happy, sweet voice bubbled through the phone. Seconds later, the rest of the tem was listening to what Garcia had to say. "So," she began, setting everyone up for the long lecture they were facing, "the first two victims, Tom and Jesse were quite similar. Tom was the quarterback on the varsity team when he was a sophomore, captain of the baseball and volleyball teams, and head of student council. The younger boy, Jesse, is all of those things. He's like a miniature version of Tom. Since that was the case, I kept digging and their paths never crossed. Tom moved to Pasadena a couple of months ago, so they didn't attend the same high school, they live 25 miles apart so they don't shop at the same grocery stores, go to the same coffee shops, or have any medical providers in common. As far as I can tell, the two have never even passed each other on the street."

"Garcia," Morgan interjected. "Why did Tom Adams move to Pasadena?"

"Because his business branched out. He owned a chain of fitness facilities and taught self defense classes in his Pasadena location."

"So they were both alpha males." Reid mumbled, he knew he was starting to figure something out, but his subconscious wouldn't let the rest of his mind see the progress yet. "Their victimology is similar, what about the two girls, Garcia?"

"Well, boy wonder, I'm glad you asked because we have yet another case of creepily similar people. Both girls were head cheerleader, captain of the dance team, had solos in choir, were named prom queen, got the leads in the school plays and didn't break a sweat doing any of it." Garcia paused to take a much needed breath after that long winded explanation. "They were both the stereotypical popular girls, but again, their paths never crossed. Mallory was practicing to be a model and Amy was a model, but with different companies on the opposite sides of the city. No shared schools, jobs, nothing."

"They sound like alpha females." JJ said. "Could that be the connection? The unsub is going after people he perceives as powerful?"

"And he's experimenting with how he likes to torture and figuring out what helps him get off." Rossi concluded.

"Thanks Garcia. When the rest of you get back, we'll start putting together the profile. We can't present it until we talk to the victim's families, but we're almost there. Morgan and JJ, got talk to Jesse Moore's family, Blake and Rossi, Tom Adams'. Reid will talk to Amy Stevenson's fiancé and I'll go to Mallory Campbell's house. Garcia, send the addresses."

"On it boss." Garcia's smirk was audible as a chorus of "Okay"s came through the phone form the rest of the team. Garcia disconnected the call and Reid's phone buzzed seconds later, notifying him of the text Garcia had sent. Hotch's phone dinged a moment later, signalling that he had gotten his address.

"Call me as soon as you're done." Hotch said to Reid as they left the building.

"Will do." Reid called as he ducked to get into the SUV, still brushing the top of his head against the roof of the black vehicle. He waved through the tinted window as Hotch drove out past him in the opposite direction. Reid never particularly enjoyed asking families about their deceased loved ones; they always got angry or extremely emotional and he was never quite sure how to comfort them. But after Maeve, Reid knew better than anyone on the team-accept for maybe Hotch-what it felt like to lose the person you love most, and the young genius was more than prepared to use that empathy to his advantage.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed! The action is coming next chapter I promise! Till then, 3 3 all the love! Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: ready for chapter three? There's action at the end of this chapter, so please stick through the necessary quote on quote "boring" bits that I need to put in in order for my story to actually resemble the show ;) thanks again to all my readers for sticking with me this long! You guys rock, and I guess it means I don't actually suck at writing :D.**

 **[Again, I unfortunately do not own criminal minds or any of its characters (which might be a good thing come to think of it, otherwise every episode would just be Reid, although, would that really be bad?)]**

 **Okay, let's get started.**

* * *

It took Amy Stevenson's fiancé, Matt Harmon, twenty seven seconds to answer the door. When he did, his long blonde hair was sticking up everywhere, his already fair complexion was near white and his bright, blue eyes were dulled with red puffiness.

"Hi Mr. Harmon." Reid's heart immediately went out to the clearly devastated man. "My name is Doctor Spencer Reid, I'm with the FBI. You spoke to my team's technical analyst earlier today regarding my visit."

"Yeah," his voice was broken and depressed, exactly like Reid's after Maeve died, "I remember her."

"I just have a few questions about Amy; do you think you could answer them for me?"

"Yeah." He moved out of the doorway. "Come in." spencer nodded in thanks as he stepped through the door. The house was surprisingly neat for a man who just lost the love of his life, but that was likely due to Harmon lying in bed sulking. "Can I get you anything?"

"No, I'm fine thank you." Reid didn't want to impose more than he had to, so he just followed Harmon to the family room in the back of the house. Harmon gestured for Reid to take a seat and, once the agent was comfortable, sat down across the table form him in an identical armchair. "I am so sorry for your loss." Reid poured sincerity into every word. "Can you just tell me a bit about Amy? What she liked to do, places she liked to go, anything she did on a regular schedule will help."

"Okay," the saddened man in front of Spencer took a deep, shaking breath before answering. "Well, she was always going to photo shoots and had a pretty irregular schedule. Her agent could call at any time for her to drop everything and go. The only thing I can think of that she did on a regular schedule is go to the spa. She got facials, hair extensions, eyelash extensions, tans, manicures, anything to 'improve' her appearance. Oh, and jogging. She went for a ten mile run every third day."

"So Amy was very conscious of her appearance and other's perception of her?"

"Yes. It was one of the things she cared most about."

"Okay that helps a lot. Could you do me a favor and tell me about the last time you saw her before she was taken?"

Another shaking breath escaped Harmon's lips. "Uh, yeah. Okay. It was her spa day. We woke up around nine thirty and had breakfast; pancakes. I don't know if that's relevant, but-"

"Almost everything is."

"Okay. Well we had our pancakes, did the dishes and then she left. Her appointment is always at ten thirty. She was always done and home by one thirty, so when I saw it was two thirty and she hadn't called or texted, I tried to reach her but I couldn't." Reid saw tears brimming in Matt's eyes.

"It's okay." Reid soothed. "Take your time. I know how hard this is."

"Do you?" Matt Harmon's words were without malice, but drenched with sadness and fear and edged with anger. "Do you know what I'm going through? Do you know what it's like to have the person you love taken away from you by the hands of somebody else?" Harmon buried his face in his hands and sobbed quietly.

Reid nearly grimaced as he thought of Diane Turner. "Yes, I do." Harmon looked up, incredulous to what he just heard. Reid continued. "The woman I loved was taken hostage and I wasn't able to save her. I was right in front of them and I couldn't stop Maeve from getting shot."

"I'm sorry… I-I didn't know." Harmon stuttered.

"How could you? Thank you for the condolences. Do you think you could finish telling me about that day now?"

"Yes, yes. So when she didn't answer I went to the spa. Her car was there, but she wasn't. So I called the police and filed the missing person report."

"Okay. I just have one more question for you. Do you think you can handle that?"

Harmon rubbed his hands along his thighs and nodded, sniffling. "Yes."

"Did you or Amy notice any strange cars or unfamiliar people hanging around your neighborhood? Was there any sensation of being followed for the past couple of weeks?"

"No. well, I didn't notice anything strange. Amy didn't say anything; I think she would have. Why do you ask?" genuine curiosity lined his voice.

"Because for this unsub to know when Amy would be alone, he would have had to stalk her for quite some time to figure out her routine. Did you receive any odd phone calls, maybe the person on the other end hung up shortly after you said hello?"

"No, none of that. I'm certain she would have told me if she thought someone was following her."

"Okay." The corner of Reid's mouth twitched down slightly, he needed to talk to Hotch about the unsub. The young genius was almost certain he knew what the unsub was doing to his victims, but he needed Hotch's information on Mallory Campbell before he jumped to conclusions. "I should, be going." The two men rose. "Thank you so much for your time, I know how hard that was."

"Well, I'll do anything to help you find the bastard that killed my Amy." Malice was thick in Harmon's voice as he led spencer back through the house and opened the front door.

"And I assure you that we are doing everything we can to find him before he hurts anyone else." The men nodded to each other before Reid stepped down the porch steps.

"Dr. Reid?" Spencer swiveled around, nearly tripping over his own feet as he did. "Thank you. And I'm sorry about Maeve."

"Thank you." A ghost of a smile played on Reid lips. "When we catch this guy, you'll be the first to know." Harmon nodded and closed the front door, peeking out the window as he passed by, catching a glimpse of the young agent getting into his SUV and waving with a small smile. He was grateful that such an intelligent, empathetic man was working on this case.

Reid climbed into the SUV, lightly tapping his head on the interior again. He started the vehicle and called Hotch, using the Bluetooth speaker and setting his cellphone in the cup holder. Pressing gently on the gas, he pulled away from the curb and up the slight incline.

Hotch answered after two rings, "Reid. What did you find out?"

"Amy only had one activity constantly booked in her schedule, and that was the spa. Every second Saturday at 10:30 am. The unsub abducted her in the parking lot on her way out."

"That was a lot like Mallory. She only attended school on a regular basis." Reid listened, but noticed a stop sign up ahead and released the gas, slowing the SUV as he passed over the top of the ark. "She was easily charmed and he probably picked her up curbside on the way home, luring her with a ruse."

"Sounds logical, but that would mean our unsub is young, or appears that way." The stoplight 100 yards away turned yellow and spencer took his foot off the gas again. "Hotch, was Mallory concerned about her appearance?"

"Well, every eighteen year old girl is concerned about their appearance." Reid pressed the brake as he approached the red light, but the vehicle didn't slow. "But if you mean abnormally obsessed with doing everything humanly possible to make herself more physically attractive, then yes."

"Hotch…" Reid's voice was scared as the SUV flew down the hill, not slowing even when he slammed the brake so hard he thought the pedal might go through the car floor. He quickly switched on the siren and lights to alert any traffic among him to let him through; he did to want to cause a wreck.

"Reid what's wrong?" he flew through the red light, luckily no one else was in the intersection. This was a fairly secluded area.

"Get Garcia to track my cell phone." Reid was trying desperately not to let a scream escape his lips as he barrelled towards a sharp corner he knew he wouldn't make.

"Why? Reid. What's happening?"

"Someone cut my brakes. Hotch, the unsub," the corner came closer and faster and Reid forced himself to open his eyes, talking a mile a minute, but still not able to get the words out as the SUV sped off the road "he takes-" Reid twisted the steering wheel as hard to the left as he could, swerving to a crashing halt against the treeline of the small forest, a map of which he hadn't bothered to memorize.

The sound of impact and glass smashing came through the phone, causing Hotch's eyes to widen. "Reid? Reid! REID!" the call disconnected shortly after the crash.

Reid heard Hotch's voice through the phone, but it sounded distant. The young agent realized a moment later that the muffled tone of the voice was caused by the airbag he was slouched on. His head ached, so he instinctively reached for his temples, but his fingers slid off of his left one and came away red. His vision was darkening, but he didn't miss the voice. Not Hotch's coming through the phone anymore, but a new voice, gruff and all around terrifying.

"Hello, Spencer." was the last thing Reid heard before he blacked out and the unsub completed phase two of his task.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed! Please review! I love to know that my readers like what I'm writing! Also, I need to know what I'm doing wrong so please tell me. Till next time, thank you all for reading and (hopefully) reviewing!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: Hello everyone that has stuck with the story so far! Thank you all for the reviews, they make me so happy! The action is finally picking up in this chapter, so I really hope I wrote it well considering it will be continuing for the next few chapter as well.**

 **(I don't own criminal minds or any of it's characters, just Makaia and the unsub)**

 **Have fun!**

* * *

Hotch pulled the SUV over, shocked for a moment, eyes widening at his youngest agent's terrified voice and turning rigid with fear as he called out and no response came. The sound of glass shattering repeated itself in the unit chief's head, making him feel sick to his stomach. After he got over the initial shock, Hotch shook his head slightly and ripped the phone away from his ear, selecting Garcia's contact from his speed dial list with ten times the force he should have applied to the touch screen.

"How may I be of servi-"

"Find the location of Reid's cell phone. Now." Hotch pulled back out on the road and turned his lights and siren on so he could double speed limits. "Text me the coordinates, the rest of the team too. Send an ambulance."

"Sir?" the voice that was confident and happy a moment ago had lost all of its sparkly enthusiasm, but Hotch could still hear typing in the background. "What happened? Is Reid okay? Well obviously not if I'm sending an ambulance; what happened?"

"Someone cut his brake line. Please tell me you have the coordinates." Hotch's typically stoic voice was getting slightly breathless as he remembered the crunch of metal against who knows what.

"Sent." The tears that hadn't fallen yet were apparent in the tech analyst's high voice. "And the ambulance is on its way. What else can I do?"

"Call Rossi. Tell him to meet me there. I'll tell Morgan. Thank you, Garcia."

"Call me as soon as anything happens." The line clicked and Hotch quickly set up the SUV's GPS before calling Morgan.

"What's up, Hotch?" Morgan chuckled at something JJ had said.

"Garcia sent you a location. Go."

The two agent immediately recognised the fear in their boss's voice. "Hotch?" JJ said, becoming scared. "What happened?"

"Somebody cut Reid's brakes. He crashed. Get there now." With that the call ended and Morgan tripled speed limits, lights flashing, sirens blaring, anger showing prominently through his rigid posture as he raced to the sight where his best friend was… or wasn't.

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

"Hey." A soft, unfamiliar, female voice floated into Reid's head as he grasped at consciousness, not quite reaching it. "Can you hear me?" the voice was soothing, concerned and… young. Definitely young. "Come on, please wake up." Reid tried, he really did, but couldn't quite get his eyes open. He latched onto the voice in order to keep his mind semiconscious, but the pain in his head and back made the will to wake up lessen. "Please. Doctor Reid. Please." How did this girl know his name? Curiosity drove his eyelids halfway open, a groan escaping his lips as he turned his head towards the voice. "Oh thank god." The relieved sigh came from a teenage girl who was sitting about five feet from the agent's head.

Reid sat up sluggishly, feeling the ache in his back more with movement. He quickly took in his surroundings as he leaned back against the wall; he was in a dark, cold, concrete room with no furniture or windows. It was about twenty feet by twenty feet and there was a lone lightbulb hanging from a chain on the ceiling in the center of the room. The light was grimy and dim, not allowing much light at all as he looked to the young girl in front of him. "How…" his throat was painfully dry. "How did you know my name?" he asked, trying to place her. She had medium length blonde hair that just passed her shoulders, pronounced cheekbones, a small nose, full lips and intelligent grey-blue eyes. She wasn't tall, maybe five foot four, and had a thin frame with gangly long limbs like Reid. He notices the cuff on her left ankle, then realized that he had one too. He hadn't noticed the chains rattling as he sat up, but now saw that there was about ten feet of chain link attached to the cuff with the other end attaching to the wall.

"You gave a profiling presentation to my class sixth months ago. January twenty sixth." She said, shrinking back on herself as if she was embarrassed. "I wanted to speak with you afterwards, but my professor was talking and then you got called away on a case."

"You were there?" Reid's head was spinning, but he could tell this girl was not a college student. "That was a second year criminology course." suddenly, the realization hit him. "How old are you? When did you graduate high school?"

The girl looked at him, confused, but answered with little hesitation. "I'm fifteen now. I graduated when I was thirteen."

"IQ?"

"One eighty three."

"How many words can you read in a minute?"

"Roughly eighteen thousand."

"Eidetic memory?"

"Yes."

"What mental illness does your mother or father have?"

"Okay, what was my tell for that?"

"My mother is a paranoid schizophrenic. Which parent is it and what is it?"

The girl's eyes widened slightly. "My mother is also a paranoid schizophrenic. Seriously, I know you're a profiler, but how did you do that?"

Reid sighed, not liking this situation at all. "I'm here on a case, this case. This is the unsub we're after."

Seeing Reid's scared expression, the girl felt a fresh wave of fear settle in her stomach. "What's the case?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.

"He takes what people value most. Before us, there were two girls who valued their looks more than anything, so he mutilated their faces in order to take their beauty away." Spencer took a breath, not liking where his thoughts were travelling. "He's going to try to make us lose our minds. With histories of paranoid schizophrenia, that won't be the hardest thing to do." Reid watched as the girl took a shaky breath and decided to stop talking about the case. "What's your name?" he asked gently, trying to be comforting.

"Makaia." Her spirits seemed to lift slightly as she said the name, "Makaia Alcina. Seaward and strong minded." She mumbled and the left corner of her mouth twitched up. She seemed to find comfort in the name. Spencer knew he would if his name were so beautiful. Looking up to see the agent staring at her in wonder, she blushed and looked down. "Sorry." She barely whispered. "I just-"

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Spencer cocked his head at Makaia. "I like memorizing lists. Any list. Even my friends' grocery lists." Both of them smirked slightly at that comment, not able to fully smile due to the circumstances.

"Names are my favorite." Her voice was reminiscent as she thought. "They hold so much power and describe the owner subconsciously. That doesn't make much sense but-"

"No it makes perfect sense. Although I am not a red head, as my surname would suggest. I'm not sure how to interpret that portion. Although, Spencer means bearer of provisions if I'm not mistaken, and I do coffee runs for my team quite often, so I suppose that means something."

"Well, I'm sure your mother didn't name you Spencer in order to sentence you to a lifetime of coffee runs."

"Yeah probably not." Spencer smirked again, but something that Makaia said earlier popped back into his still throbbing head. "You said you were at my profiling presentation in January?"

"Yes." Makaia looked confused at the sudden topic change.

"That was in Virginia. What are you doing in Pasadena if you go to school on the opposite side of the country?"

"Oh… that." Makaia stared down at her hands, her cheeks flushing again. "It's kind of a long story…"

"Well, I'm not planning on going anywhere." Reid gestured to the cuff around his ankle. "So I say go for it."

"Okay." Makaia took a deep breath as if sorting out her thoughts. "When I was ten, my mom started getting really bad. She would lash out at people, insisting the government was watching her. I'm sure you know about the delusions; hers were… violent. She was convinced I was a spy and chased me out of the house with a mallet. I ran to my neighbour's house and told her what happened, I was scared and I had no choice. I didn't blame her, I knew she was sick, but Ms. Clyde called the police and told them what happened. Mom got committed and I got put in foster care. FAFSA pays for my classes wherever I go and I get into every school I apply to, so when I bounce around to different cities and states, my files just have to be transferred and I'm set. I was only in Virginia for three months before I got removed from the house I was in there."

"Where was your dad?" Reid had an idea, but wanted to confirm it.

"He walked out fifteen months before." She mumbled. "Said he couldn't handle it anymore and just left. The police couldn't find him anywhere, hence, foster care."

"My father walked out on my mother and me too." Reid tried to pour as much empathy and understanding into his voice as possible. "I was ten at the time. I had to commit my mother when I was eighteen because I couldn't give her the help she needed. However, I was a legal adult and able to live on my own."

"I wish. I want to just live in residence. Move back to Virginia and take the rest of my classes there, but FAFSA doesn't cover living costs… I'd have to pay them back and I can't do that until I have a full time job. With interest rates and late payment fees... well, you know."

"I get it. If you don't mind my asking, how many different families have you been with?"

"Thirteen in five years."

"Why?" spencer was shocked at the high number.

"Because the majority of people in the system just need somebody to hurt and take their anger out on while they get paid to do it." There was a slight edge of anger in her voice. "Luckily, I have an array of decent social workers and got moved faster than most do."

"They don't sound decent of they kept putting you in abusive homes."

"Well, they have other kids too. Plus, they had to take care of my school transfers and were able to have the unfit families removed from the system and charged. Also, they just found me a wonderful family here in Pasadena. I've been here five months, two weeks and six days and haven't had one unpleasant incident."

"My childhood was a walk in the park compared to yours. I was able to live in residence. It's great that you've finally found a good family. Do you ever get to visit your mother?"

"She's in Nevada. I haven't been back there since was eleven."

"You're from Nevada?"

"Vegas."

"Is your mother at Bennington?"

"How did you know?"

"Mine is too." Reid's lip twitched up briefly. "As soon as we get out of here, I'm going straight there. You are welcome to join me if your foster family will allow it. I'm sure they would like to come along as well." Spencer though about his mother and wondered whether or not his team had contacted her yet. He assumed not; they wouldn't want to worry her until the found him alive or he turned up dead.

"I would love that. However, there is no guarantee that we're getting out of here, and you know that, doctor Reid." The already frightened mood turned to terrified with Makaia's statement.

"You saw my presentation. My team is the best at what they do." Reid wasn't quite sure if he believed himself, but if the prisoners gave up hope of rescue, they almost definitely wouldn't keep fighting to survive.

"But they're a man and the equivalent of two brains down." She pointed out.

"Makaia, look at me." She obliged. "Don't give up hope. That's what gets you killed. I believe in my team. They found me once, they can do it again."

Suddenly a door slammed open across the room. "Aw, what an inspiring speech." The same voice that Reid had heard before he was rendered unconscious after his crash sent shivers down his spine yet again.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed! Please review! Au revoir!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hi hi! Thank you so much for the reviews! All of them are so positive and amazing and I love them! I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **(I only own Makaia and the unsub, no one else)**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Hotch skidded to a halt, seeing the crumpled metal and smashed glass that had once been a government SUV. He jumped out of his own vehicle and ran towards the one Reid had been driving. He could see blood through the tinted driver's side window.

Once the unit chief had closed the gap between vehicles, he was confused at the slightly open door. He grabbed a tissue from his pocket and yanked the door open, revealing deployed and deflated airbags, seats littered with shattered window glass, blood, Reid's cellphone… but no Reid.

Hotch quickly spun around, searching for anything that might point him towards where his youngest agent might be. Seeing nothing, not even a blood trail or fresh tire tracks, Hotch pulled out his cell and called Garcia.

"Is Reid okay?" she asked halfway through the first ring.

"Cancel the ambulance."

Garcia let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank god. How is he? What happened? I was so worried."

"Garcia." Hotch sighed, defeated as he heard sirens coming down the road. "He isn't here."

"Wh-what do you mean he isn't there? Where is he?"

Hotch watched as Morgan came barrelling around the corner, the back end of the SUV fishtailing as he did so. "I don't know Garcia. I don't know."

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

Reid moved in front of Makaia as the unsub neared, crossing the thirty foot diagonal in a matter of seconds. He was at least three inches taller than Reid, meaning he had a foot on Makaia, and three times as big, arms thick with muscle.

"My team is going to find us." Reid said, defiantly.

"Oh I've no doubt about that." the man in front of him sneered, his bright green eyes cold and clinical and he flicked a strand of jet black hair out of his eyes. "The question is, will they do it in time or not?"

"And why wouldn't they?" the agent challenged. "Having me gone is only going to make them work harder and faster."

"True, however, they will be dividing their attention between this case and your case."

"It's the same case. What are you talking about?" Reid was genuinely confused, knitting his eyebrows as he spoke.

"Makaia, my darling," Reid felt Makaia tense behind him, "Would you minds shedding some light on this situation?"

Makaia took a breath and Reid turned slightly sideways so he could see Makaia while still watching the unsub.

"Liam and Addison won't know I'm missing for a few days." She mumbled. "They're out of town for the weekend and I'm supposed to be at a friend's from school. But he made me text Holly that I was feeling sick and heading to their biological son's aunt's house with him instead. Adam saw me get on the bus to get to Holly's house and I had to text Addison that I got there fine so a missing person's report won't be filed until Monday."

"And it's still Friday." The unsub looked very proud of himself. "Is five days going to be enough time for your team to find you, Spencer?"

"We've solved cases in less time." he sneered right back. "As soon as they connect us, they'll figure it out within a day." He was showing more confidence than he actually felt, but he couldn't give into this monster's dominant, narcissistic god complex.

"Well I wouldn't get my hopes up." His voice was mocking and clinical. The unsub reached to the waistband of his jeans and pulled out a pistol, leveling it with Makaia's face. "Step aside Spencer. Do anything else and I blow her brains out right here, right now. Do you want this lovely young girl's blood on your hands?"

Reid moved away from Makaia, keeping his eyes on the gun that remained pointed at her face. This back ached as he shifted to sit against the wall. He watched as the unsub pulled a key from his pocket and roughly grabbed the chain attached to the cuff around Makaia's ankle. She kept her eyes focused on the barrel of the gun, unable to look away from the hollow, cylindrical metal piece that could kill her within seconds.

The unsub slid the key back into his pocket and roughly grabbed a fistful of Makaia's blonde hair. She bit her lip, but didn't make a sound.

"Leave her alone!" Reid all but shouted, standing up and stepping away from the wall in protest.

"No no no, Spencer." The unsub taunted, grabbing Makaia around her slender chest and sticking the gun under her chin. "Do you want me to kill her now? Sit down."

The look of fear in Makaia's eyes caused Reid to oblige, but didn't stop protesting. "Don't hurt her. If you need to hurt someone, hurt me." He nearly pleaded with the hulking man, looking apologetically to Makaia.

"Well isn't that just like you, Spencer." The unsub chuckled. "Offering yourself to help somebody else. Just… like… Maeve."

Reid leaned back, his eyes widening in surprise and fear. How did he know about Maeve? "Please." His voice was barely a whisper.

"We'll be back later, Spencer. Come, Makaia." He grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the room, the same way he had come, switching off the light as he went by and engulfing Reid in utter darkness.

What made Reid more uncomfortable than the fact that he couldn't see anything was the fact that Makaia had turned back to him as she was dragged out, and the look of terror on her face had been replaced by a genuine mask of calm.

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

"Who would want to take Reid?" Morgan looked like he wanted to punch something as everyone sat anxiously around the table in the makeshift conference room of the police department.

"And how long have they been planning it?" Blake asked, looking around the room at her colleagues, missing the face of their resident genius.

"What do you mean?" JJ was confused in her sleep deprived state. None of them had gotten any sleep the night prior, and it was currently just after one in the afternoon.

"Was Reid a victim of opportunity? Or was this planned?" Blake wondered out loud. "The victim's fiancé lived in a fairly secluded area, so it's more likely the unsub targeted Reid."

"But for the unsub to know Reid was here, he would have had to stalk him beforehand." Hotch pointed out, catching Blake's drift.

"Are we sure this isn't the same guy?" Rossi asked. "We have to consider all angles."

"No teenagers have been reported missing in the twelve hours before, or any time after Reid's abduction." Detective Andrews piped up from the corner, most of the team had forgotten he was there. "We actually haven't received any missing persons reports other than Dr. Reid."

"Detective Andrews is right." Hotch's voice was flat as he fought the buzz of exhaustion in his head. "But we can't put our original case on the backburner. Considering our lack of information and leads at the moment though, we can look into Reid's case for now." Everyone, including Detective Andrews, seemed to agree with that.

"So," Morgan sighed, clearly angry at the situation and himself for letting it happen, "Reid had a stalker?"

"Well, it's possible considering how abruptly we showed up here." Blake said.

"Well if that was the case, he didn't try to contact him." JJ said with a yawn. "Spence would have said something if…" she trailed off, realizing what she was saying was incorrect. Reid probably wouldn't have reached out to the team until he felt he was truly in danger, and maybe not even then. He wouldn't want them to hover, which they probably would.

Hotch pulled out his cell. "Anything?" Garcia's voice came full of hope through the phone.

"Not yet." Hotch stated with a hint of sadness in his tone. Reid's disappearance had hit everyone hard, and Hotch's emotions were showing. "Can you check Reid's phone records and emails? See if there's anything suspicious?"

The clicking of keys was heard through the phone before Garcia's distraught voice came through the speaker again. "Nothing here other than us, sir. He hasn't even called his mother in a couple of weeks. I don't like digging through his personal stuff, even if the only people he talks to are the only ones that are hearing this." Garcia audibly pouted. The team knew how she felt about digging into people's lives, but it was necessary.

"We know baby girl, but you have to so we can find him." Morgan said, frustration melting as he spoke to the tech goddess of the BAU.

"We'll call you as soon as we get any-" Hotch began before he was interrupted but a female officer poking her head into the room.

"Excuse me, Detective Andrews." She said, searching him out. "We have a missing persons report. Fifteen year old Makaia Alcina."

"Garcia." Blake said.

"Already on it."

* * *

 **Please review! I feel like this chapter wasn't as good as some others, but they can't all be great ;) especially when my computer crashes and deletes half my progress so I have to rewrite everything. Oh well. Thanks for reading! Adios amigos!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello! I just want to say thank you to everyone that has followed my story from the beginning! It means so much that people are reading my work and sticking with and hopefully enjoying it. I really appreciate all of the positive reviews, and am always open to tips and corrections to improve my writing. With that said, enjoy this chapter!**

 **(I don't own criminal minds or any characters besides Makaia and the unsub)**

 **3... 2... 1... action!**

* * *

Reid huddled in the corner, Makaia's screams echoing through the walls. What still bothered him more than the darkness was the nature of her screams. They weren't cries of pain or fear; they were yells of anger. The agent strained his ears to hear, but even with his senses amplified by lack of sight, he couldn't make out any words escaping Makaia's lips. However, he could hear the defiance in her tone and knew she was standing up to this unsub. But it was killing him that he didn't know what the bastard was doing to her.

 _'_ _That's the point, I suppose.'_ He thought to himself. _'It's psychological torture. I can't do anything to help.'_ he let out a sound of frustration and slammed his fist into the wall behind him. He could see why Morgan punched walls so often, it felt good to let some anger out on something that couldn't feel pain or punch back.

After what seemed like days of just sitting in the dark and listening to Makaia's anger, the screaming stopped. A second eternity later, a whimpering Makaia was shoved into the room. The light was clicked on again and it seemed unnaturally bright to Reid's darkness-prone eyes. He had to squint in order to see the unsub dragging Makaia back to her spot near Reid. He relocked her cuff and pulled out a syringe, eyes set on Reid.

Horrible flashbacks tore through his mind.

 _Tobias tightened the belt around Reid's upper arm before preparing the syringe._

 _"_ _Please," Reid begged. "I don't want it. I don't want it." He struggled against the belt attaching him to the chair._

 _"_ _Trust me, I know." Tobias looked at Reid, reassuringly, believing he was helping._

 _"_ _Please don't!" sobbed and tears began to fall as the needle was pushed into his arm._

 _"_ _Come on, let's get you out of here." Gideon supported his weight to lead him out of the cemetery._

 _Reid pulled away. "Can I have a second alone?"_

 _Gideon nodded and walked a few feet away. Reid knelt down and reached into Tobias' pocket for the dilaudid._

 _Reid locked the door behind him and checked the stalls to make sure nobody else was in the bathroom._

 _He stood in front of the mirror, pulling out the vials, resisting the urge to plunge the needle into the bottle and let the drug flow through his blood stream._

 _"_ _Has anybody seen Reid?" he heard Morgan's voice from the hallway._

 _"_ _I've never seen you act like this." Emily said while they stood outside of the homeless shelter. Concern laced her voice and that irritated Reid._

 _"_ _Oh, really? So, in the months that you've known me, you never seen me act this way? No offense, Emily, but, you don't really know what you're talking about, do you?"_

 _He stormed off._

Reid stared at the needle, paralyzed with fear. The unsub's lips curled into a cruel grin as Spencer's eyes widened and his breathing started quickening.

"What's wrong Spencer?" the unsub asked, mock sympathy in his voice. "Afraid of needles?" He pulled his belt from its loops and roughly grabbed Reid's arm, wrapping the belt around his upper arm in a tourniquet fashion.

"Please." Reid begged. He did not want to go down this path ever again. "No."

"Oh relax, it isn't dilaudid." The unsub shrugged. "It's heroine."

Reid pulled harder against the unsub, but his grip was firm and before he knew it, the agent was slumped back against the wall, both dreading and welcoming the fast approaching high.

Reid barely registered that the unsub left.

Fifteen minutes later, he turned his head to see Makaia slumped on her side, silent tears sliding down her cheeks. Fortunately, the unsub had given spencer a small dose, much less than he was used to when he took dilaudid, so he came down from the high quickly. Unfortunately, however, he knew the withdraw symptoms would kick in soon.

A few more minutes and the high was almost completely over. Once he determined that he was able to think straight, he moved closer to Makaia.

"Hey." He said quietly. "Are you okay?"

She sat up nodding. "Yeah."

"What happened?" Reid prodded gently.

"Um…" Makaia furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the ground in an attempt to recall what had happened. "I'm not entirely sure. I remember him holding a gun to my head and then…" she looked back up at Reid apologetically. "I was on the floor in different room and he was kicking me. I don't remember leaving here though."

"You were yelling. A lot." Reid said, trying to help her remember. "But you didn't sound scared or hurt. You sounded mad. Defiant screams."

She looked down again, picking at her fingernails. When she tilted her head, Reid could see the shadow of a freshly forming bruise under her eye.

"Makaia." Something was very clearly bothering her. Other than the whole hostage situation. "What happened in there? I know you know. I'm a profiler remember."

"No, Doctor Reid, I really don't know." She brushed the question off and Reid could tell that she obviously didn't want to talk about it. He had his suspicion, but he wasn't going to press her. "Why did he give you heroine?"

Reid hesitated, but figured it wouldn't make anything worse by telling her. "Because he's been watching me. In two thousand six, I was abducted in Georgia by an unsub with dissociative identity disorder." Reid wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but it seemed that Makaia tensed up when he mentioned DID. He ignored it though. "The actual man, Tobias Hankle, had two alternate personas; his father Charles and the ark angle Raphael. Charles and Raphael tortured me to try and get me to confess my sins, while Tobias wanted to help. He… he gave me dilaudid and when my team found me, I was addicted."

"Oh my god." She mumbled, absolutely stunned. "So this isn't you first time being abducted…"

"No. However, it's what I signed up for. Being a field agent in the FBI, I could die at any given moment. I signed off on it."

"I realize." She looked as if she suddenly remembered something. "Who's Maeve?" she looked up at him, curiously. "He said I was just like her?"

"He was referring to the situation." Reid sighed. It was his turn to look down at his hands. "Maeve was… the woman I loved. She had a stalker, an undergrad student named Diane Turner who resented Maeve for rejecting her thesis. Diane took Maeve to get to me and… she committed murder suicide because I loved Maeve and not her. I couldn't save her." Even two years later, it hurt to talk about Maeve. He resented himself for not being able to save her, even though, logically, he knew he couldn't have done anything more.

"I'm so sorry." Makaia's empathy was genuine, and Reid knew that was because she knew loss. She knew lonely. She knew what it was like to feel like the world was against you. Reid hated that she had to know these things at such a young age, but he was also grateful to have someone to empathize with.

"Thank you." He looked back up at her and saw true understanding in her eyes. Understanding that was just barely overshadowing terror. "Hey." He spoke gently as he reached for her hand, grasping it gently. He found it odd that he wasn't uncomfortable with the gesture. "We're getting out of here."

The fear in Makaia's eyes pushed the understanding away as she gripped the other genius' hand. "I know. But, eidetic memories and criminology classes aren't really useful in this situation. Statistics keep bouncing around in my head."

"I know how you feel."

With that, the pair lapsed into silence, taking comfort from their entwined fingers until the unsub came back.

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

"Makaia Alcina." Garcia said quickly, glancing at documents popping up on her screen. "Oh this poor, wonderful girl."

"Talk to us Garcia." Hotch said, wanting to either connect her to Reid or make sure they were part of two separate cases.

"Where do I start…" she wondered aloud. "Okay, bad news first. Her mother was diagnosed with Paranoid schizophrenia five years before Makaia was born, when she was nine, her father walked out on them and when she was ten, her mother had an episode and chase her out of their house with a hammer. Social services stepped in and put her in foster care where she bounced around to thirteen different homes in five years due to abuse and neglect." Garcia whimpered. "Onto semi-positive aspects. Her IQ is 185, she jumped from fifth to tenth grade, finished high school at age thirteen and is starting her third year of criminology and first year of psychology. Also taking classes in mathematics and just finished four years-worth of biology in two years. Wow. She's like a female version of our Boy Wonder Spencer Reid."

"Well, this is definitely our unsub." Blake slouched back in her chair, feeling defeated.

"Which means we have until Thursday to find them." Rossi said, also leaning back and feeling helpless.

"Guys." Morgan said, hesitantly. "We still don't know the method behind his madness."

"Morgan's right." JJ sighed. "We need to figure out why he's doing this in order to find them."

"Well," Hotch looked at his team, seeing the exhaustion written all across their faces, "we need to take another look at MO. Andrews, can you bring in Makaia's foster parents? I'd like to speak with them."

"Sure. I'll call them now." He left the room and Hotch turned to his team.

"Let's find this son of a bitch."

* * *

 **I hope this chapter was exciting! Please review! All feedback is very much appreciated. Until next time, goodbye!**


	7. Chapter 7

Sorry for the late update. I wasn't home until about half and hour before I posted this chapter, so it's kind of rushed and I apologize. Next one will be much more thought through.

(I don't own criminal minds or any of their characters.)

Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Reid hadn't noticed that he had fallen asleep, but jolted awake when the unsub slammed the door open. Makaia stayed still, gripping Reid's hand a bit tighter as she watched the man cross the room.

The unsub pulled out his gun and trained it on Makaia before grabbing the key to Reid's ankle cuff. He unlocked the metal anklet and grabbed Reid's arm, yanking him roughly to his feet before dragging him out of the room, shutting the light off as he went.

Reid didn't fight back as the unsub led him down three dark, empty hallways and through a plain, grey door. He knew resisting would make it worse on himself and Makaia.

"I'm being nice today." The unsub pushed Reid towards a chair that was bolted to the ground in the center of the room. "I'll start you off with something easy." He forced the agent into the chair before fastening belt-like restraints over is wrists and ankles. "I'm sure you know all about electricity given your doctorate in chemistry. Tell me, how many volts does it take to cause severe brain damage?"

Reid's mouth was dry form lack of water, but he answered, deciding to see if playing into the unsub's fantasy would help him or not. "It would take an exorbitant amount of volts to cause any significant brain damage, but anything over fifty milliamps can cause such extreme side effects as death if the current is carried out for long enough." He recited.

"Well, I'll be sure not to go over fifty milliamps then." The unsub sneered as he brought over a cart with a modified ECT machine on top of it. He started attached an electrode to each of Reid's temples before unbuttoning his shirt and placing two electrodes on his chest. Reid felt extremely exposed with his shirt undone.

He watched as the unsub turned the machine on and set the amperage to ten milliamps. The unsub flipped a switch and Reid immediately felt his muscles seizing and his heartbeat becoming irregular. A sound he wasn't familiar with escaped through his clenched teeth as everything tensed and Reid felt horrible pain shooting through his entire body. He couldn't keep track of the time as the current traveled through his body, but was grateful when it was finally turned off. He panted as his head lolled forwards onto his chest. Reid saw the unsub turning the amperage up to fifteen milliamps out of the corner of his eye and pain even worse than before shot through his being.

The unsub continued his electric shocks, increasing the amperage by five milliamps each time he electrocuted the agent. Reid was terrified the entire time, knowing how much stress the electricity was being put on his brain.

When the unsub reached fifty milliamps, Reid felt the breath get sucked out of his lungs and wasn't able to replace it as he began convulsing painfully. His mind was beginning to get foggy and he fought to stay conscious as he thought about his team. He knew they would find him. The only question was when.

He hoped it would be soon.

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

"Thank you so much for coming in, Mr. and Mrs. Charston." Hotch led the couple and their son through the doors of the family lounge. "Have a seat." Liam and Addison sat down on a couch, practically on top of one another, clinging to each other's hands. Adam sat in the chair next to the couch, looking as if he had been crying. "When was the last time you saw Makaia?" Hotch asked gently.

"We saw her Friday morning." Mr. Charston said. His voice was blank, as if he didn't know how to feel. "I dropped her off for her classes right after I dropped Adam off for his."

"I saw her after that." Adam piped up. His voice sounded distraught. He was clearly broken up about his foster sister's disappearance. "I made sure she got on the bus to Holly's place before aunt Jane picked me up."

"And where were you?" Hotch turned to the parents.

"We had left shortly after Liam dropped Makaia off at school." Mrs. Charston's voice was similar to her son's; sad and broken. "We had to leave on a business trip; I'm CEO of a home renovation company and had a consult in Orange County. We weren't planning on being back until Monday."

"What brought you back early?" Hotch pressed gently, not wanting to make the family more upset.

"Adam texted us and told us Makaia was missing." Mrs. Charston was close to tears.

"And how did you know that, Adam?"

"She wasn't answering her phone." He looked down at his hands, on the verge of tears himself. "She always does. I knew she was working on a project with Holly, but after a couple of hours I started to get worried. So I called Holly's house to see what was up and she wasn't there." A tear slid down his cheek. Hotch could tell that the kids had been extremely close. "Holly said that Mack had texted her saying she felt sick and was going to Aunt Jane's with me."

"We all got a text saying she had gotten to Holly's safely." Mr. Charston's voice was tight with emotion now.

"Okay." Hotch poured as much sympathy into his words as possible. "I know how hard this is, but I need to ask you a few questions about Makaia. Separately."

"Why separately?" Mrs. Charston's voice was curious.

"It's protocol." Hotch said. "We don't want one person's answer to hinder the others."

"Okay." All three said in unison.

"Mr. and Mrs. Charston, you can stay here. Adam, if you'll come with me, please." Adam rose and followed Hotch out of the room. "JJ." She looked up from her files. "Talk to the parents." She nodded and headed into the room.

Hotch lead Adam to the next room over and had him sit down. "Can I get you anything?" he asked, kindly.

"No, thank you." Adam stared at the ground.

"Okay. Can you tell me a bit about Makaia?"

"Sure." He looked up at Hotch. "What do you need to know?"

"For starters, how long has she been with your family?"

"About five months. Mom and dad want to adopt her. We had just made the court date the day before she went missing."

"And you and Makaia were close?"

"Yeah. We got along from the moment she stepped into the house." He smiled a bit, as if recalling a pleasant memory. "It was weird. I didn't get along amazingly well with the other kids we brought in."

"And why was that?"

"I think it was just because of their ages. I don't want to spend a ton of time with a six year old, ya know?"

"And since Makaia was only a year younger than you, she was more a friend than a sibling."

"Exactly. It was nice to have a conversation with somebody my age that wasn't completely incompetent like most of my friends from school. It was nice to not be the smartest person in the room for a change."

"I see." Hotch nodded. "Now, would Makaia be one to start a conversation with somebody she didn't know? For example, someone who just sat next to her on the bus?"

"No." there was no hesitation, but the answer wasn't so quick that it was defensive. "She kept to herself. Hated being the center of attention even at home."

"What if someone started talking to her? Would she maybe continue the conversation?"

"Only if there was a factual error. We were at a party for one of my dad's coworkers once and two people were having a conversation about deck construction. She jumped in with information about geometric patterns and angular symmetry and trigonometry." He chuckled slightly. "She'd never met them and she started correcting their practice. She was right, of course, but it was odd. I'd never seen her so extroverted."

"Sounds like somebody I know." Hotch thought about Reid and how he was holding up with his captor and fellow prisoner that may as well have been a clone of himself. Hotch thought it might be more bearable for both of them with another person so similar to themselves there. "I'd like to try something."

"Okay…?" Adam looked curiously at Hotch.

"I'm going to conduct what we call a cognitive interview. Close your eyes." Adam obliged. "Now. You're at the bus stop with Makaia. What do you hear?"

"I'm listening to Makaia, she's telling me about the project she and Holly are working on. Something about using geographical locations and geometric patterns to locate people."

"Okay good. What else do you hear?"

"Cars. It's a busy street."

"Is there anyone else with you at the bus stop?"

"Um... no. a couple people walk by, but nobody stops near us."

"Okay. Fast forward a bit to when the bus was coming. Who sees it first?"

"Mack does. We stand up and I hand her her bag after she gets her bus pass out."

"Are you still the only ones there?"

"Yes."

"Okay, so the bus pulls up in front of you. How many people are on it?"

"It's about half full. I give Mack a hug before she gets on. Once it pulls away, I turn around and go back home."

"As you're walking away, do you hear or see anything unusual?"

"I heard… a man calling out for something to stop." He furrowed his brow. "I turned around and a man was chasing the bus. The bus driver stopped and he got on. I could see Mack through the window. He sat down right next to her." He opened his eyes and they were wide with concern. "Was it him?"

"Quite possibly yes." Hotch was both happy that they had a possible suspect and still angry that his agent was taken, possibly by this man. "If I had a sketch artist come in, would you be able to give a description of the man?"

"I'm not sure." Adam slouched. "He was facing away from me. All I could see was that he had dark hair."

"Do you remember what he was wearing?"

"A jumpsuit. Blue. And a tool belt."

"Thank you. That's very helpful information." Hotch stood to open the door and let Adam out.

"Agent Hotchner?" Hotch turned back to Adam. "Please find her before he kills her."

Hotch tried to look as reassuring as possible. "We're trying our best."

Adam stood up with a courteous nod. "Thank you."

Hotch watched him leave and wondered what it would be like to lose Sean, trying to empathize with the teenager.

He couldn't.

Until he thought about Reid.

* * *

Meh, weird ending. Oh well. Review please! Till next time, Ciao bellas!


	8. Chapter 8

**Bonjourno! This chapter is a bit on the shorter side, but I think I made up for it in the action-y stuff. I wish you all the enjoyment!**

 **(I sadly do not own anything to do with criminal minds)**

 **And let's dive in!**

* * *

"ECT?" Makaia whispered after the unsub walked out of the room.

Reid twitched slightly and groaned. "Yeah."

"How high was the amperage?" concern was obvious in her voice.

"Only went up to fifty milliamps." Reid's voice was hoarse and dry. "Brain damage isn't probable."

"But the electric burns will scar." Makaia studied Reid's head and still bare chest. He didn't have the energy or coordination to re-button his shirt as his muscles continued to contract spontaneously.

"Rather unfortunate locations for such ugly scars, don't you think?" Reid really felt that he needed to lighten the mood, even though that was near impossible considering the situation.

"Quite."

Not able to think of anything else to say, both geniuses leaned against the cold walls and remained silent. Hope was slowly draining out of both of them.

What Reid estimated to be about ten minutes later, the unsub came back with a bag in his hand. Makaia shifted away from the unsub and towards Reid as their captor came closer. The unsub dropped the bag three feet from the geniuses, making them both flinch. He knelt down and unzipped the bag, producing two IV bags.

The prisoners watched as the unsub hung the bags on hooks that had gone unnoticed until now. Reid eyed the unsub wearily as he held the needle and reached for Reid's hand to insert it.

"Don't worry Spencer." This man was incredibly good at mocking sympathy. "There is no carbenicillin in here." Reid relaxed slightly as the unsub pushed the needle into his hand. He knew that the IV was used to keep the previous victims alive. Once the IV was dripping into Reid's system, the unsub wrapped the needle in duct tape, probably to ensure he wouldn't take it out. The unsub repeated his actions with Makaia, then left.

"What's with this?" Makaia asked.

"It's to keep us alive until he wants to kill us." Reid explained. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until the nutrients entered his bloodstream, satisfying his screaming body. "We die on his terms, not nature's."

"I see." She mumbled back.

Reid stared off into space for a few moments; he was unsure of what he should say, so he decided to just keep quiet. After a few minutes, he heard Makaia's voice.

"Useless." she said.

"What?" Reid asked, confused.

"Hmm?" Makaia turned to him, just as confused as he was.

"What's useless?"

"You are."

"Excuse me?" Reid was shocked. "How am I useless?"

"I didn't say you were."

"You just did."

"And I meant it. You're the FBI agent. Why can you get us out of here?"

"I'm just as helpless as you are right now. What could I possibly be doing to get us out of here?"

"Dr. Reid…?" Makaia edged away from the elder genius. "I didn't say anything."

"Wha-"

"You're such an idiot!" she yelled.

"I'm smarter than you!" he shot back.

"Oh sure. Put down the fifteen year old to make yourself feel better." She sneered.

"No, I didn't-"

"Oh what, you didn't mean it?" she mocked, smirking. "I think you did."

"Makaia, please I-"

"Just shut up!" she was clearly angry with him. "Shut up or figure out how to get out of this place!"

"I'm trying!" he was taken aback by her sudden anger. "There isn't much I can do about it. My team will come."

"Your team? The ones that sent you to a victim's family by yourself, in the middle of nowhere, so you could get your brakes cut and crash into a tree before the unsub abducted you? Some team. They sound like they really care."

"Don't you dare insult them!"

"I. just. DID!"

"Stop! Just stop!"

"NO!"

"Makaia, please." He begged.

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

"Dr. Reid. He put hallucinogens in your IV. I never said you were useless. I never said you weren't smart! I know you're smarter than me."

"No, I didn't-" there was a pause as Makaia 'said' something. "Makaia, please I-"

"Dr. Reid, listen. He drugged you again. Listen to my words. I never said anything negative. I didn't say you were useless or that you weren't smart."

"I'm trying!" his voice was so distraught that Makaia thought he might be close to tears. "There isn't much I can do about it. My team will come."

"I know they will. They will come and rescue us. They're brilliant and they will find us."

"Don't you dare insult them!"

"I did not insult them." Makaia kept her voice level and she spoke, trying to coax the agent out of his delusion, but she knew it was futile.

"Stop! Just stop!"

"Dr. Reid." She begged, beginning to get frightened as he shouted at her.

"Makaia, please." He was begging now, as if Makaia was scaring him.

"I'm sorry." She said, reaching for his hand. Before she could grab it however, his eyes closed and he slouched over sideways. "Dr. Reid?" she began to panic. "Dr. Reid!" she shook his shoulder gently. She was quiet for a moment, listening. She heard the even rhythm of inhaling and expelling oxygen and breathed a sigh of relief herself.

Makaia knew there was nothing she could do to wake the elder genius, so she just tried to get comfortable on the concrete floor. She sat in silence, hoping that Dr. Reid had just passed out from stress and exhaustion.

She was astounded at how forgiving the concrete underneath her seemed, and before she knew it, he mind was blank and she was sleeping too.

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

The unsub quietly set up the chairs in the center of the room, not wanting to wake his guests just yet, especially since his new ones were still very much asleep.

Once everything was set up, he left.

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

Reid groaned and lifted his head away from his chest. He looked over to see Makaia, curled up on her side, sleeping a few feet away before he felt another presence in the room. He turned towards the center of the room and his eyes widened in shock and horror at what was before him. Three chairs were placed with three feet of space between them, an unconscious person in each. All three people were bound and had duct tape over their mouths.

Reid just stared. There was nothing more he could do. He wondered who these people were and why the unsub had chosen them. After what could have been seconds or days, Reid couldn't tell, he heard Makaia shifting next to him. He tore his gaze away from the new prisoners and looked uneasily at Makaia, wondering what her reaction to the new people would be.

Makaia groaned and pushed herself up off the ground, brushing her hair out of her face. She turned to Reid, noticed his expression then slowly turned her head towards the new prisoners. A horrified gasp escaped her lips as she pressed herself into the wall, covering her eyes and sobbing.

"Makaia." Reid shifted towards her. "Makaia, who are they?"

There was no answer, only heavy sobs from the younger genius.

"Makaia." Reid placed a hand on her shoulder and she all but jumped into his lap, seeking the comfort of a human embrace. Reid wrapped his arms tightly around the girl, letting her sob into his shoulder, wanting to help as much as he could.

After a few moments, she spoke. "They're…" she lifted her head slightly, so as not to muffle her already incoherent words. "They're my foster family."

* * *

 **Please, please, please review! I know I've had a lot of visitors and I hardly have any feedback! If I'm doing something wrong, TELL ME. If I'm doing something right, TELL ME. I just love hearing that I'm pleasing my visitors and if I'm not I would like to fix the problem! Til next time, dasveedAnja!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey hey! Sorry, this chapter is a bit short. I wasn't exactly sure where I was going with it so I kept it kind of concise until I can gather my thoughts a it better. I'm going to take my lack of reviews in a 'no news is good news' kind of way, but they are still much appreciated! I love the positive feedback and would love to hear some predictions as I'm still not entirely sure where I'm taking this; I have about six different ideas that I could play out :).**

 **(As always, I do not own anybody accept Makaia.)**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Makaia clung to Reid for what he could only describe as a long time. He lost all sense of time as he held the girl, whom he identified with more than anyone else he'd ever met, close to him and stroked her hair in what he hoped was a comforting manner.

Reid didn't bother telling her everything would be okay. He didn't whisper soothing words in her ear to tell her it was fine. It wasn't and everything wouldn't be okay. He just held her, hoping the embrace would offer her even the tiniest amount of comfort.

After the 'long time' of listening to Makaia sobbing, Reid heard movement from the direction of the new prisoners. He turned to see Liam lifting his head and looking around in confusion before his eyes settled on Reid and Makaia and his expression turned horrified. He tugged against the tape that was attaching his arms and legs to the chair.

Makaia looked up when she heard the struggling; her violent sobs had died down to silent tears with the occasional hitched breath. Seeing her foster father tugging against his restraints caused a fresh wave of tears to spill from Makaia's eyes.

"Liam." Her voice was distraught, terrified and outraged all at the same time. "I'm so sorry."

Although Reid couldn't hear what Liam was saying through the tape, he assumed it was something along the lines of 'no, I'm sorry. This isn't your fault, it's mine.' That's what most parents who had children abducted would have said.

Liam continued to yank against his bounds, but they didn't even budge a centimeter. Eventually, Addison and Adam woke up; their reactions were similar to Liam's.

While Liam and Addison continued to tug against the duct tape, Adam and Makaia seemed to communicate through facial expressions. Reid could tell that the teens were close, more best friends than anything else.

After what was again 'a long time', the unsub came back into the room. He wasn't wearing a mask or doing anything to conceal his identity. That was a bad sign.

"Oh good you're all awake now." The unsub announced, clearly pleased with himself. He walked over to his three new visitors and peeled the duct tape off of each of their mouths, beginning with Addison.

"Please." She begged. "Let Adam and Makaia go."

The unsub leaned right into her face and smiled. "No." his confidence was sickening.

The unsub then moved onto Adam, who looked straight at Makaia. "This isn't your fault." He said, firmly.

"Oh but it is though." The unsub spoke as if he was trying to convince a toddler to change their mind. "If she wasn't here, you wouldn't be either." The unsub moved onto Liam.

"You son of a bitch!" Liam shouted, causing everyone but the smiling man in front of him to flinch. "Let my family go!"

"Like I told your wife, no." the unsub turned on his heel and walked straight over to Makaia and Reid, sneering down at them like he was the king of the world.

"Let them go!" Makaia shouted angrily. Adam eyed her wearily, as if waiting for something. "They haven't done anything!"

The unsub focussed on the elder genius. "I'm sure you'll enjoy this part, Dr. Reid." His narcissism was clear and abundant. He turned back to Makaia, pulling out a gun from his waistband. "Choose."

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

"It's been three days and we have nothing!" Morgan slammed his fist down on the table. "How the hell are we going to find him?!"

"Morgan." Hotch warned. He didn't want to look unprofessional in front of the officers. The last thing they needed was to give them another reason-the first being the missing FBI agent-to doubt their work. "Being angry won't help Reid."

Morgan huffed and sat back down in his chair, running a hand over his shaved head in frustration.

"We need to treat this as a normal case and deliver the profile." JJ said, calmly. Hotch was surprised at how well JJ had been handling Reid being abducted. He had expected her to be a complete wreck; the youngest member of the team meant so much to her.

"JJ's right." Hotch stated, simply. He was trying to keep his stoic mask intact. "So what do we have so far?"

"White male with dark hair in his late twenties to early thirties." Rossi started, prompting the rest of the team to join in.

"Clearly sadistic." Morgan said, having calmed down slightly since his prior outburst. "He enjoys seeing his victims suffer." That sentence caused everyone's stomachs to churn as they thought of what Reid could be going through.

"His narcissism shows through the message he leaves at each dumpsite." JJ piped up. "He thinks his victims are beneath him, worthless enough to be thrown out with the trash."

"The only possible suspect as of now was wearing a blue jumpsuit." Hotch said. "Garcia is looking into local public service businesses with that uniform, although I assume that description will match most of them." Hotch noticed Blake hadn't said anything. She had been reviewing the same notes, pictures and autopsy reports since that morning. "Blake." She looked up at Hotch. "You've been looking at the same documents since this morning. You've obviously got a theory or that wouldn't be the case."

"Well," she seemed hesitant, "it's not solid but…"

"Any idea is helpful right now." Hotch assured.

"I feel like he's destroying what his victims value above all else."

"Meaning?" Morgan was slightly confused.

"Well, the first two victims were alpha males." Blake was speaking more quickly than usual, as Reid tended to do when he was explaining a theory. "He took away what represented their manhood." She was obviously referring to the castration and removal of bicep muscles, symbol of power and manliness. "The next two were utterly obsessed with their looks. He mutilated their faces and deprived them of their beauty." Everyone was nodding along, processing and agreeing with Blake's theory.

"He's stripping them of their most defining trait." Rossi thought aloud. "Taking everything from them."

"So, what's Reid and Makaia's defining trait?" JJ asked, not exactly wanting to hear the answer.

"Their minds." An edge of sadness crept into Hotch's tone. "We need to deliver the profile. He's going to try and make them go insane."

* * *

 **I just realized that Garcia has hardly been in this story! I'll have a good chunk of her in the next chapter. She's just so hard to portray and a bit difficult to include when the team is at a dead end... oh well! she will be back soon, I promise! Please review! Arrivederci!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Greetings! I did out Garcia in this chapter (although I almost forgot). I really hope I did a good job portraying her character here, she really is difficult to put on paper, I don't know how Chris Mundy does it! And don't even get me started on how Kirsten Vangsness pulls it off! She's incredible and I aspire to be her and Matthew Gray Gubler but as one person.. is that weird? Yes, yes it is. sorry, I'm rambling here... let's just get to the chapter.**

 **(I do not own criminal minds or any of its characters."**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

"Choose." The word echoed around the room, slithering into Reid's head and coiling around his brain, making him shiver as he remembered being in the shed with Raphael.

 _"_ _Tell me who you serve." Raphael said, calmly._

 _"_ _I serve you" Reid decided to play into Raphael's fantasy._

 _"_ _Then choose one to die." The sentence rolled off of his tongue as of it he was asking Reid to choose a TV show to watch._

 _"_ _What?" Reid was incredulous._

 _"_ _Your team members; choose one to die." The voice of Raphael was still calm and collected._

 _"_ _Kill me." There was no way somebody was dying for Reid, he just had to think of a way to save himself and his team members._

"You said you weren't one of them."

 _"_ _I lied." So much for playing into his fantasy._

"Your team has 6 other members." Raphael was becoming impatient. "Tell me who dies."

 _"_ _No." The agent's voice was barely a whisper._

Raphael pulled out his revolver, spun the cylinder until the location of the single round was unknown and leveled the gun with Reid's head. The barrel was placed directly between his eyebrows. "Choose, and prove you'll do god's will."

 _"_ _No." Reid's mind was racing, trying to think of a way out of this._

The gun made a hollow clicking noise as the trigger was pulled and the chamber was empty. "Choose." He said again.

 _"_ _I won't do it." The gun clicked again._

"Life is a choice."

 _"_ _No." Click._

"Choose."

 _Reid knew he had a maximum of two empty chambers before the bullet came around. Suddenly, he remembered something. Something that Hotch would remember. "I… I choose… Aaron Hotchner." He only prayed the Hotch would recognize his signal and someone would realize his 'mistake'._

"What?" Makaia's incredulous voice pulled Reid from his flashback.

"I'll be back in ten minutes." The unsub sneered. "Choose one to die."

Before anyone could say anything else, the unsub turned on his heel and left. Everyone remained in shocked silence for a moment before Liam spoke again.

"Makaia." Everyone turned to him. "Choose me."

"What?" Addison and Makaia exclaimed in unison.

"If he's killing one of us, it me. No questions." He said firmly.

"He's not just killing one of us, though." Adam's voice was so quiet, Reid barely caught the words as they floated past his ears.

"What?" Liam was angry, confused and scared. Reid could tell that those feelings were making him impatient and irrational, unable to think. "He said choose ONE to die."

"Adam's right." Makaia said. "He's a sadist on a mission; a mission to kill."

"What does that mean?" Addison was timid and terrified.

Makaia turned to Reid, willing him to explain for her. "A mission oriented sadist is one of the most dangerous typed of criminals." Reid explained. "Sadists get off on seeing their victims suffer, and mission oriented killers don't stop killing until their mission is complete or-more often-they are apprehended. Putting the two together creates an unsub who will carry out their goals no matter how long or difficult the process is. They will do anything to complete their task, no matter how many people they have to kill." Reid's voice got quiet at the end of his rant, and he was unable to look at anyone as he basically signed their death orders.

"And how exactly do you know this?" Liam spat, clearly enraged by Reid's logic. "Who the hell are you anyway?!"

"My name is Dr. Spencer Reid." He said calmly. "I am a profiler in the behaviour analysis unit of the FBI. My team was sent here to assist with a case… this case."

"You're with the FBI," Liam's voice had dropped a few decibels, not a god sign, "and you let yourself and my daughter get-!"

"WHOA!" Makaia said, holding a hand up. "Liam. Dr. Reid did not LET this happen. He didn't stand idly by as the unsub abducted me and then just decide to crash into a tree and have the same guy throw him in the car! I'm sorry, but he is not to blame for this."

"I'm not saying that's what happened. However, it is his job to ensure things like this don't happen and look where we are!"

"The dictionary definition of letting something happen is 'not prevent or forbid'." Reid realized that Makaia could be a carbon copy of himself as she spoke. "For him the 'let' anything happen, he would have had to be present for the event that he did not prevent. Therefore, he did not let this happen. And arguing and blaming others is not helping anybody."

Liam was stunned into silence. By the look on his face, Reid could tell Makaia used dictionary definitions and logic to get points across often. "You're right." He finally sighed.

"Thank you." She sighed as well.

Suddenly the door banged open again. "Have you made your decision?"

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

"Garcia." Morgan answered halfway through the first ring, immediately pressing the button for speaker phone and placing the phone in the center of the table.

"Okay." she didn't sound nearly as perky as normal, obviously due to the absence of the team's youngest member. "I looked into all of the plumbers, carpenters, contractors, electricians, even auto mechanics and janitorial services in Pasadena. There are over four hundred. And of course I've already picked out the ones whose uniforms consist of blue jumpsuits, which leaves us with three hundred and twelve."

"How many employees are males between the ages of twenty and forty?" Hotch asked.

"That would be…." The sound of rapid fingers on a keyboard came through the phone. "Oh wow, eight hundred ninety six. Anything else to narrow this down?"

"Take out blondes, redheads and those with light brown hair." Hotch remembered Adam telling him that the suspect had dark hair.

"Okay, we still have five hundred seventy nine. I need more."

"He's got to have some kind of criminal background." Morgan said. "There's no way this is his first string of crimes."

"Okay that narrows it down to… still two sixty three. You people are clearly forgetting that you are in an area with a very high crime rate! Pasadena is only safer than twenty two percent of cities in the United States!" Garcia was getting frustrated now, angry that she couldn't just magically find the man that had her Boy Wonder and another completely innocent Girl Genius.

"Garcia." Blake piped up. "Search for any unsolved rapes, murders or abductions. Nationwide."

"Okay got it." She seemed happier with that than just trying to narrow the impossible list of public service workers. She hung up and started typing immediately.

After a few seconds, pictures and reports started popping up. She briefly read into each report, seeing similarities immediately. She isolated the cases that were abduction, rape and murder with obvious signs of sadistic torture. There were fifty six over the past ten months.

"Oh my god…" Garcia mumbled to herself as the crime scene photos imprinted themselves in her brain. Each was eerily similar to the ones from Pasadena. Girls had their faces mutilated and men had castrated and had their biceps removed.

Garcia quickly dialled Morgan back. As soon as she heard him answer she started talking. "He's been doing this for at least ten months. Reid and Makaia are his FIFTY NINTH. The cases didn't show up as serial because he's never struck in the same city until now. He's never abducted two people at the same time until he got to Pasadena."

"So what made him escalate?" JJ wondered aloud.

Suddenly, more cases popped up on Garcia's screen. "Uh guys…" her eyes widened. "The cases go back further than I thought…"

"How far, Baby Girl?" Morgan asked.

"Oh god… murders with the same MO that went unsolved go back to two thousand one." Garcia read further into the cases. "The reports resembling them stopped from September of two thousand twelve to…" Garcia gulped, "ten months ago."

"He's too organized to be psychotic." Rossi said. "He had to gone to prison for that time."

"Garcia," she already knew what Hotch would tell her to do next, "look at-"

"Forty six prisoners matching our rough description were incarcerated during September of two thousand twelve in Iowa which was the location of the last abduction/rape/murder that matches our unsub." Garcia kept typing. "Twelve of them were released ten months ago."

"Any of them in for attempted sexual assault?" Blake asked.

"Four."

"Do you have their last known locations?" Hotch was getting anxious, knowing they were close.

"Two are still in Idaho, one in Florida and… the last one seems to have disappeared completely." Garcia grinned, knowing she had found their guy. "Charles Blaine has not left so much as a bread crumb since he got released. The murders started up again three weeks after he was released, the first of which was in Colorado thank you and goodnight!"

"Is he working under an alias at any of the companies we looked at?" Morgan asked. "He's clearly planning on staying in Pasadena for a bit of time and wherever he's keeping Reid, he might have to pay rent."

"Looking now and… yes! He is working as one Anderson Smith for Stokoe's plumbing which is two miles from your location. Address of the business is sent. He also has an apartment under that name. That address is also sent!"

"You're the best Garcia!" everyone's voice came through the phone in unison.

"I know." She smiled. "Now bring my Boy Wonder home!" she hung up pointedly with her pink, fluffy pen and sat back, hating that she could do nothing to help Reid anymore. But she trusted the team and knew Reid would be back with them soon.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed! As always, I am asking for reviews because your feedback has all been so positive and I'm loving it! It inspires me to write faster! I really hope I got Garcia's character right... she's a difficult one. Oh well, I tried :). Alrighty, I will post soon! Sayonara!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi y'all! I can't believe I'm posting my ELEVENTH chapter of this story! I really didn't think that I could keep the ideas flowing. However, judging by the amount of views this has gotten and the lack of negative reviews, I think it's safe to assume that I'm doing a decent job! Thanks to everyone that has reviewed with positive messages and anyone that has followed or favorited this story! It means the world to me that people are enjoying what I'm writing. :) :) Okay enough of that, but seriously, thanks.**

 **(I do not own criminal minds or any of its characters)**

 **And... begin!**

* * *

"Blake, Morgan, go to the business address." Hotch said, rushing out the door with the rest of his team as he did so. "JJ, Dave, you're with me. It's unlikely he'll be holding them in his house considering that he lives in a highly populated, residential area. But we need to make sure." Everyone nodded and split off into groups.

Hotch climbed behind the wheel as soon as he had his Kevlar on. The SUV was accompanied by three squad cars, two uniformed officers in each. The drive to Smith's house was silent and fast, thirteen minutes. Everyone practically leapt out of their cars before they were completely stopped and followed Hotch to the front door. Rossi lead three uniforms around back and Hotch counted twenty before banging on the door. "Charles Blaine!" he called. "FBI!" he waited a four count before taking a step back, kicking the door in and following directly behind JJ. He heard Rossi and the other uniforms entering through the backdoor and they all began searching the house.

Hotch headed down hallway, JJ right behind him. Shouts of 'Clear!' rang through the house as he checked the doors on the left side of the hallway. Hotch came upon an empty bathroom and an empty bedroom. JJ found an empty office and a storage room. "Clear!" she called.

"Clear!" Hotch agreed. "He's not here." Hotch and JJ holstered their guns and Rossi Came around the corner.

"Is it just me, or does it look like somebody has been living here for a lot longer than a month?" Rossi asked, referring to the lack of boxes and neatness of everything.

"No you're right." JJ said as she wandered into the storage room. "He obviously knew the previous owner, transferred his name onto the lease and kept all of their stuff." JJ looked behind a stack of bins and drew her gun again. "There's another door." She announced.

"Go." Hotch said as he drew his own weapon and followed JJ through the door; Rossi was right behind him.

The door led down a flight of wooden stairs into a concrete basement. Once at the bottom, JJ found a light switch and flipped it. The overhead lights flickered for a moment before turning on. The sight before them was terrifying.

"Well, we know why he escalated so much." Rossi said, tone slightly angry as he strode up to the board.

"He wanted us here." JJ said, sliding on a pair of gloves before beginning to examine the collage.

"Not us." Hotch corrected. "Reid." He stared at the board that covered the entire back wall of the basement. Every paper he'd ever written, article he'd been mentioned in, pictures of him that could be found online and even transcripts from interviews, lectures and conferences were covering the board. On the wall perpendicular to the Reid collage, there was a smaller collage of Makaia's life. Pictures, papers and articles about her abusive foster homes had been pinned up in a corner. It was fitting that Makaia's collage was much smaller, she was nearly twenty years younger that Reid. "Is there anything here that suggests he stalked his other victims this strenuously?"

"No." JJ said, she had already searched for evidence of the other victims.

"Well," Rossi said, "I think it's safe to say that Reid and Makaia are his endgame. He wants them for a reason."

"That's good and bad." Hotch sighed. "Now we know that we most likely have longer than just a few days to find them, but we also know that he has a specific plan for them."

"We need to see what Morgan and Blake found out." JJ started back up the steps with Rossi and Hotch on her heels.

Rossi voiced the obvious thought on everyone's minds. "We need to find them."

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

"I'm not choosing." Makaia said defiantly when the unsub was standing above her.

"Oh but you are." He cooed, pressing his revolver lightly under her chin, tilting her head up to face him. "Choose one."

"No." Reid saw himself so clearly in Makaia at that moment that he felt as though he was watching a replay of himself and Raphael that cold, lonely night in Georgia.

"Okay." The unsub took the gun away from Makaia's chin and released the cylinder, sliding the bullets into his hand. He slipped five of them into his pocket and held one between his index finger and thumb. "We'll just have to leave it to fate then." He slid the round into a random chamber before spinning the cylinder and popping it back in place without looking. "What did Tobias call this, Spencer?" the unsub asked as he walked behind the line of Makaia's restrained foster family. "God's will?"

"You don't have to do this." Reid tried talking him down as he was so often able to do with deranged unsubs, but this man was not deranged. He knew exactly what he was doing. This man reminded Reid of Frank form all those years ago. He had known exactly what he was doing when he abducted and killed his victims. He was patient and calculating, knowing and doing exactly what he wanted.

"Oh, but I want to." He smirked at Reid, clearly telling him who the boss was in this situation.

"They haven't done anything to you." Reid continued to try and reason with the unsub. He wasn't going to just stand by as Makaia watched the people who took her in after twelve horrible homes get killed. "What do you gain by killing them?"

"They're expendable." The man's smile never wavered. He never broke eye contact with the elder genius. That scared Reid more than anything. "I have a mission to carry out, I intend to finish it and these people will help me with that. Now, ladies first? Or oldest to youngest?" it was clear that the unsub was done talking to Reid as he finally broke eye contact and stared at the family, running a hand through Addison's hair.

Makaia finally allowed the fresh wave of tears she had been holding back to spill over her lashes as she watched the unsub press the revolver to Liam's head. He pulled the trigger.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed! I apologize again for this chapter being kind of short, but I wasn't sure what else I could put in it and I wanted it to be a cliff-hanger :). Please review! Farvel!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry this one took a while. I can't even say that the reason it took so long to write is because of how long it is, because it's short :( I apologize for this, but I can't even make up an excuse for my short chapters. Well, quality over quantity, correct? I hope that's the case here. Let's just get into it!**

 **(I don't own criminal minds or any of its characters)**

 **Ready... Set... GO!**

* * *

Everyone tensed as an abnormally loud click echoed through the silent room. Addison let out a quiet sob of relief as the empty chamber rotated.

It wasn't extremely surprising that the chamber was empty. With six chambers and one bullet, Reid knew that the survival odds for the first shot would be just over eighty three percent. Eliminating the already used chamber, the next person to have a shot fired-which turned out to be Adam as the unsub moved down the line of prisoners-would have an eighty percent chance of survival.

Adam cringed away from the metal barrel pressing against the back of his head.

Addison looked as if she was going to pass out from stress.

Liam… well, if looks could kill, the unsub would be dead.

Reid was feeling as though he should be able to do something, anything. He was the federal agent. He was the smartest person in this room. He was the one that was supposed to protect people like this family form people like this man. It infuriated him to know he could do nothing. _'Again.'_ He thought to himself. _'Psychological torture.'_

Makaia wasn't breathing as the unsub smiles, crookedly and placed his finder on the trigger.

The unsub simply smiled.

The next empty click resonated off the concrete walls, and Makaia let out the breath she had been holding. The good news in this situation was that nobody had died… yet.

The bad news was that Addison had a twenty five percent chance of getting shot.

The unsub brushed Addison's hair behind her shoulders before pressing the gun to the back of her head. Reid and Makaia stared with looks of anxiety and fear on their faces. Adam looked away, not wanting to see it if his mother's brains were about to paint the floor in splattered, bloody spray. Liam took a breath and stared at his quietly sobbing wife, not knowing what to say.

Another deafening click caused everyone's breath to come the slightest bit easier for about four seconds. The unsub went back to the top of the line.

Liam now had just over a thirty three percent chance of not painting the floor with his brain tissue and cerebrospinal fluid. Liam looked hopeful as the unsub leveled the revolver, and Reid guessed that hope was for the bullet to be in this chamber. He wanted to die before his family so he didn't have to see them killed in front of him. Reid knew that if he was in this position with his team, he would want to go first. Hell, he'd want to be the only one that went. He wouldn't want his family to die, even if he wasn't around to see it.

The click was the best and worst thing any of them had ever heard.

Adam had a fifty percent chance of living and fifty percent chance of dying in the split second it would take for the bullet to exit the gun and enter his head. When the sound of an unloaded gun being fired sounded, all eyes but the unsub's widened and moved to Addison.

"NO!" Liam shouted. "Not her! Please!"

Adam, Makaia and Reid stared, eyes wide and terrified.

Addison looked oddly calm, as if accepting her fate.

The unsub pouted, clearly not happy with this outcome. "Well this won't be any fun if you know for sure this is the shot. We'll just have to fix that, now won't we?" the unsub released the cylinder and once again gave it a dizzying spin, losing the place of the round. He clicked the round back into place, lining up a random chamber with the barrel of the revolver.

The gun was pressed into Addison's hair, the trigger was pulled, and Reid and Makaia received a warm, sticky, red shower as the contents of Addison's skull exploded through her forehead.

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

"Garcia." Hotch said as they drove back to the station feeling completely deflated as they did so. Hotch had no idea why the tech analyst was calling; they hadn't asked her for anything.

"I was digging deeper into Charles Blaine because digging is what I do and I just CANNOT sit around here and do nothing while one of my babies is missing and I had all of these thoughts running through my head that even baby pandas couldn't-"

"Did you find something?" Hotch interrupted. He wanted Garcia to get to the point while they were still in the car, just in case they needed to go somewhere, talk to someone, do anything that would require motor vehicular transportation.

"Yes and no." Garcia sounded unsure, as if maybe she thought her information wouldn't be useful. "That property you just visited, it had belonged to Anderson Smith for ten years."

"Which means Blaine either bought the house under his alias ten years ago when he was in Pasadena, had somebody buy it for him or Anderson Smith really is a person and Blaine either has or killed him." Rossi deduced.

"Well," Garcia used the tone of voice that meant, 'I was just getting to that', "he only got the job at Stokoe's two weeks ago. And he's like their backup plan. If there's no other person to go answer a call, he goes. He's only been to a customer's house once. I looked into Smith's employment history, he resigned from his job as a criminal prosecutor three days before the first victims went missing. He had no family in the state, so nobody reported him missing."

"Sounds like Blaine killed Smith and took his name." JJ said.

"Safe bet." Hotch mumbled. "Garcia, did Smith own any other properties other than his house?"

"No. Unfortunately, he owned his house, his car and that's it." Everyone hated hearing their peppy, sunshine bringer so down.

"Keep digging." Hotch said. "Find everything you can on Smith and Blaine. And their families. Nothing is irrelevant."

"I'm on it, boss." The line went dead.

"I think the newest question is, where is Anderson Smith?" Rossi wondered aloud, voicing everyone's thoughts for the second time that day.

* * *

 **Again, sorry about the length of my chapters. I don't know why they've been shorter lately. I honestly think I'm just having a difficult time with the BAU's involvement, but since I've already written them in, I can't completely abandon them. Oh well. I will tyr to gather my thoughts more clearly an lengthen my next few chapters.**

 **Thanks for reading! Please review! Antio!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Sorry this took a few days!** **I hit a wall for a bit, so I just left my computer for a while and hope something would come to me. And it has! so here is the thirteenth chapter for all of my lovely readers. Thank you to everyone who has been with me since I posted my first chapter; and thank you to everyone who had followed/ favorited and especially all of my reviewers! Your feedback is awesome motivation for me to write more! Well, enough small talk, you've waited long enough.**

 **(I do not own anything to do with criminal minds despite the fact that I really want to)**

 **Ready? I hope so.**

* * *

"NO!" Makaia, Liam, Adam and Reid screeched in unison as Addison slumped forwards, eyes wide and empty.

"Addison!" Makaia sobbed.

"You son of a bitch!" Liam yelled, pulling harder than ever against his restraints.

"Mom, no…" Adam was in shock as he mumbled and whimpered.

"NO!" Reid shouted again as the unsub put another bullet in a random chamber and spun the cylinder. "Kill me instead!" he couldn't watch another innocent person die in front of him. He couldn't imagine what it must be like for the remaining family members.

"You would love that, wouldn't you Spencer?" the unsub looked so pleased with himself, it made Reid feel sick. "I know how you hate feeling useless. You'd give anything to make that feeling go away. Even your life."

"I would give my life in place of another's any day!" Reid was being completely honest. He would much rather die than see an innocent person lose their life.

"But you know I'm going to kill them anyway." He sneered, making Reid's empty stomach wrap into an even tighter knot. "You said it yourself. I'm a sadist on a mission. You just don't want to see this happen."

Reid had no comeback. The sadist in front of him was correct on every level. He couldn't bear to see these people die just to fulfil the deranged needs of this man.

"Please!" Makaia begged she was straining against her chain, trying to reach her family but not succeeding. "PLEASE!"

"I'm sure you know Einstein's definition of insanity, Makaia?" The unsub turned his attention to her. "Why don't you remind me of it?"

Makaia glared at him with tears running down her bloody cheeks. "Doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results." She mumbled, some slack returned to the chain as the unsub played the insanity card. "Just leave them alone!"

"There you go again, expecting something different to happen." The unsub sounded as if he was chastising a small child. "Maybe you've already lost your mind, Makaia. Perhaps all of my work is unnecessary."

Makaia looked-if it was even possible-more scared than she had a moment ago.

"Don't listen to him, Mack!" Adam exclaimed. "He's just trying to make you angry! You are completely in your right mind!"

"You know I'm not though…" Makaia's voice was so low that Reid almost didn't hear her. He was about to question the younger genius when he heard the revolver's safety setting being turned off.

"Well this is all very sweet, but I have a job to do, so," the unsub pulled the trigger.

Reid and Makaia were once again sprayed with watery blood and chunks of brain. This time, it was Liam's.

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

"Anderson Smith is part-time." Morgan said as everyone was once again siting in the conference room. Morgan's cell phone was connected to Garcia's office in Quantico and sitting in the center of the table. "Nobody knows much about him. He's only had one job so far. We got a cell number though." Morgan gave the number to Garcia.

"That number belongs to a prepaid cell phone that has only made calls to and received calls from Stokoe's plumbing." Garcia reported after typing for a few moments. "I checked into it like you asked, Hotch, and Blaine doesn't have any family in California. He doesn't own anything under that name. Guys, I'm dead-ending here. How can we find them? Tell me a-and I will do it! Just… tell me."

"We're trying, Garcia." Blake attempted to reassure the frazzled analyst. "We're trying."

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

Reid winced at the feeling of fresh blood that didn't belong to him. The chunks of flesh raining down on him, mixed with the guilt and hatred chasing each other around make him wan to vomit. Not that anything would come up, but dry heaving seemed viable as the unsub's smile deepened to a sneer.

"Dad…" Adam groaned as his father slumped backwards. Liam's dead eyes almost looked relieved, as if he was glad it was all over.

Reid turned to Makaia, ready to comfort her in any way possible, but what he saw from the girl next to him did not even come close to what he expected.

What he had expected to see was Makaia sobbing, yelling, begging for the unsub to spare Adam. What he saw, however, was the tears cutting off as if somebody had turned the knob on a faucet. For two seconds, Makaia's face was expressionless. Then, as quickly as the tears had ceased to flow, Makaia lashed out.

Makaia lunged forwards so fast that if Reid hadn't been able to calculate the amount of weight the chain could hold, he would certainly have expected it to snap.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Makaia screeched, practically clawing at that cement floor, trying to get to the unsub. "YOU KILLED HER PARENTS!"

 _'_ _HER parents?'_ Reid was hopelessly confused for a moment, before Adam spoke.

"Carrie!" he said loudly to be heard over the screaming. "Carrie!" she looked up at him, her fury melting if only slightly. "Carrie, let me talk to Makaia, okay?" he spoke gently, as if to a child.

"NO!" her voice was fierce and something else… protective? Yes. Reid knew that tone. It was the one Amanda used when she was about to slit Adam's stepfather's throat.

 _"_ _I was stronger than he was. I could handle it!"_ Reid heard the voice as clearly as of Amanda was right in front of him, holding the bag around the suffocating man's face and the knife to his throat.

Adam spoke to Carrie again. "Please, Carrie. We can talk later, okay? I just need to tell Mack something. Find her for me?"

"NO!" she repeated, apparently very determined to stay in her rage filled state.

"Makaia?" Reid asked, hesitantly, trying to get Makaia back.

"I am NOT Makaia!" she shot back, whirling around to face him. "You're with the FBI. WHY AREN"T YOU STOPPING HIM?" she lunged forwards so quickly that Reid didn't have a chance to defend himself as her arm shot forwards and she raked her fingernails down his face.

"CARRIE!" Adam Shouted, horrified. Reid grabbed Makaia/Carrie's wrists and held them as firmly as possible with the IV and duct tape still attached to his hand. She struggled against him, trying to get free.

"Makaia." Reid said firmly, staring into the familiar grey-blue eyes. He knew she was in there, he just needed to get her to grasp her own thoughts and take them back. "MAKAIA." He repeated. Gradually, her struggles lessened. Slowly, the malice receded from Makaia's eyes and the tears started again.

"Well THAT certainly was exciting!" the unsub chuckled. "Tell me, Makaia, why is she called Carrie?"

Makaia looked horrified, staring at the lightly bleeding scratch marks that ran across Reid's face. "Did I do that?" she whispered.

"No." Reid reassured, loosening his grip on her wrists. "It wasn't you. It was Carrie."

"Makaia." The unsub called in a sing-song tone, as if everything was all a big game. "I asked you a question.

Her tears flowed more heavily as she forced herself to face him. "Ever read Stephen King?" she asked, voice hardly a whisper.

"OH! Pig blood at the prom Carrie? How fitting! Who came up with that?"

"I did." Adam spoke up, clearly not wanting Makaia to become more upset. "It's my favorite book."

"Well what a thoughtful name." the unsub ruffled Adam's hair, causing everyone to tense. "So accurate."

"Stop it." Makaia tried, one last ditch attempt as earning Adam's freedom. "Please, let him go."

"Oh, well I just can't do that." The unsub smiled with false sympathy as he loaded a round in a random chamber and once again spun and replaced the cylinder at random.

Makaia clung to Reid as the unsub pressed the revolver into the back of Adam's head. The elder genius could feel small, round bruises forming where her fingers pressed into his flesh with iron strength. Adam sat tall, not cowering, not crying, not even blinking.

The first pull of the trigger resulted in a click that made Makaia flinch. Her breath hitched, tears flowing thick and fast down her cheeks. Reid felt is won shoulders tensing as the unsub pulled the trigger again.

 _Click._

 _Click._

 _BANG._

* * *

 **Am I evil? I might be. Oh well. Hope you enjoyed! I'm trying to start thinking of ways for the team to find Reid, but I'm really at a dead end with that. Suggestions would not be unwelcome! I would love it if some of you could post a review with what you think and how the team should find Reid and Makaia. I want them to be found within the next few chapter because I have ideas beyond their rescue but I need them to be rescued in order to use them. The rescue part is where I'm drawing blanks. Help? Even if you don't have ideas, I always love the feedback! Well, I should probably start on the next chapter. Aloha!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Two updates within three hours. I feel its safe to say that my writers block definitely lifted for a while. I just need to write after ten pm and I'm all good! well, you already got a speech earlier, so I won't bother with another.**

 **(The only people that belong to me are Makaia and Blaine)**

 **GO!**

* * *

Makaia clung to Reid for what seemed like days after the unsub left the room. He had simply smirked, turning on his heel and casually sauntering out of the room as if he hadn't just killed three quarters of a family.

The bodies were still there.

All of their eyes were open, blank and clouding over with a greyness that could only be described as death.

After an eternity of Makaia sobbing into his shoulder, Reid noticed that she had gone quiet.

Reid looked down at the younger genius and noticed that she had fallen asleep. He realized that she must be absolutely exhausted. Stress, grief, fear and anger mixed with the appearance of her alter personality would definitely have taken a toll on her.

In her sleep, Makaia looked-to Reid's relief-peaceful. Nobody deserved this. Nobody deserved what Makaia had been through in her fifteen years in this world. It made Reid doubt, for the umpteenth time in his life, if there was a deity watching over them, or if it as all some myth. He had found it hard to believe that Gideon had held onto his faith through all those years of seeing what people were capable of.

Pushing thoughts of Gideon aside, Reid gently maneuvered Makaia so she was lying on her back, shoulders and head resting in Reid's lap.

Reid tried not to look at the bodies of the family in front of him, feeling guilt and anger whenever he did. He decided to follow the younger genius' example and get some rest. It wasn't doing him any good to sit awake in the dark with dead bodies that were alive only moments ago.

He cursed his brain for not shutting down when he wanted it to, and closed his eyes tightly, thinking of a plain, black, silent screen.

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

Reid didn't remember falling asleep, but he must've considering he woke up on a thin, dirty mattress. He found the IV had been removed, leaving him with even less energy than he had previously had. He tried to rub some of the stickiness out of his eyes, but found that his hands were bound above him, handcuffs attached him to the poles of a metal bedframe.

Becoming scared, he tried to move his legs. They were bound as well, spread out just over hip width apart.

A draft hit his pale skin and Reid suddenly jumped at a new realization: he wasn't wearing clothes. He wasn't wearing anything.

How Reid had failed to notice this sooner was beyond his understanding, but he suddenly felt extremely exposed and embarrassed despite the lack of company in the room. He tugged uselessly against the cuffs around his ankles. They didn't budge.

The agent longed for clothing. He hated exposing himself to anyone. When the team had to double up in hotel rooms in Alaska, he had changed in the bathroom.

He felt so vulnerable at the moment, especially since he remembered, with perfect clarity, the unsub's MO.

It felt like days had passed. It felt like minutes had passed. But no matter how much time it was, every second was painfully torturous. Reid held back tears of pure fear as he struggled against the restraints. He was so caught up in his battle against the chains that he didn't notice when the unsub entered the room.

"They won't budge, Spencer." The voice made spencer jump and fight even harder to close his legs.

"Where's Makaia?" he demanded, suddenly realising that she could be in the same situation.

"Oh fret not, I haven't touched her… yet." His lips curled up in a sickening smile. "I left her with her family."

"If you touch her I swear to god I will-!"

"You'll what?" he interrupted. "Last time I checked, you were incapacitated. But don't worry your pretty little head about that yet." He came closer, dragging his fingers up Reid's leg, making the genius shiver in fear and anger. "For now, I'll just let her listen to you scream."

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

"Garcia?" JJ asked hopefully as she answered the call, putting the phone on speaker in the middle of the table.

"I think I may have it!" Garcia nearly squealed with possibility of finally bringing her Boy Genius home. "Anderson Smith, like the actual Anderosn Smith, didn't own anything but his house and car as I previously told you BUT, his father owned a line of shoe stores down the coast of California and his main warehouse is located two hours from you! The stores shut down and the warehouse had been empty for years."

"That has to be it!" Morgan insisted, standing up from his place at the table.

"Garcia, you're the best!" Blake practically shouted over her shoulder as the team rushed out of the conference room.

Ten minutes later, the team was on the road. Sirens blared, lights flashed and anxiety skyrocketed as they prepared themselves for what they might find.

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

Reid let the tears fall after the unsub left the room. They weren't tears of shame or guilt, however. They were tears of pain and relief. The unsub had-thankfully-not followed through with Reid's prediction of sexual assault. Without wanting to, Reid thought back to what had happened moments before.

 _"_ _For now, I'll just let her listen to you scream." The hand was suddenly gone from Reid's upper thigh as the unsub finished his sentence. Reid watched, horrified as the man started undoing his belt. Once it was free from its loops however, he didn't-to Reid's relief and confusion-continue disrobing._

 _Reid's breath had quickened, but stopped all together as the unsub raised the belt over his shoulder and brought it down across his captive's chest. Reid cried out through clenched teeth at the sudden stinging pain that flared up just under his collarbone._

 _"_ _Oh well I don't think my other guest could hear that, do you?" the unsub questioned as he raised the belt again, striking Reid's chest again, just inches below the already swelling spot. Reid's cry of pain was slightly louder this time as he felt skin break._

 _"_ _Well that was a bit better, but you can do better."_

 _The unsub kept whipping Reid, each time telling him he wasn't yelling loudly enough. Soon enough, the entire left side of Reid's torso and his entire left leg had turned purple and bloody, swelling to twice their normal sizes._

 _"_ _I think that's sufficient for now." The unsub replaced his belt, not bothering to wipe Reid's blood off of it. "I'll see you tomorrow, Spencer."_

As soon as the unsub had left, Reid let the tears fall. The quiet sobs of relief that caused his body to shake made his thirty seven swollen, bruised cuts hurt twice as much as when he kept still, but he couldn't ebb the flow of tears as he reminded himself that he hadn't been raped.

For the first time in what was probably days, he was almost happy.

* * *

 **Haha I bet I fooled you! I may be evil (as I determined two hours ago) but I'm not THAT evil.**

 **Unfortunately, I just realized that I may not be able to update until Monday. I'm going hiking tomorrow, then having a sleepover Saturday night into Sunday, and am being dragged to the peach festival with my mother and her man-child (sorry, boyfriend). then we're going to be at the man-child's house for dinner and if I even think about using my electronics there my mother gets mad. So, I will try my hardest to fins time to post chapters before Monday, but if I cant, sorry.**

 **As always, please review! Swarrtotmaal!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hello hello!** **I made time for this because I suddenly had an idea. I hope you enjoy this mostly happy chapter, there really hasn't been a happy chapter since maybe chapter one... oh well, when is criminal minds really a super happy show?**

 **(I don't own criminal minds or Reid *pouts*)**

 **I wish you all of the happiness on your trek into my thoughts.**

* * *

The drive was painfully long, even though it was only an hour and fifteen minutes rather than two hours. Morgan had been driving one SUV while Hotch drove the other. Both completely disregarded speed limits as the careened around corners, weaved through traffic and blew through stop signs and empty intersections.

Nobody talked through the entire ride, mostly because they were hanging on for dear life. However, nobody complained about the driving either.

Everyone had subconsciously remembered everything this unsub had done to his prior victims. They had all prayed that since Reid and Makaia were his true targets, he would keep them longer and slow the pace of their torture.

They had all hoped and wished and prayed that Reid would be okay.

 _'_ _Six days.'_ Blake thought as she gripped the bottom of her seat, trying to stay upright as Hotch swerved violently around cars that were going much to slow. _'He's been there for SIX DAYS and we couldn't find him'._ Blake saw so much of herself in the young man that he had almost been a surrogate son to the one she had lost. She just hoped he would be okay.

Rossi felt dread in the pit of his stomach as Morgan took a corner with such speed he was almost certain the SUV would flip. He hated the fact that they hadn't been able to find the genius sooner. He didn't want to imagine what he had gone through, but his thoughts kept wandering back to the crime scene photos and the ME reports. If the unsub had followed through with his typical MO, Rossi didn't know what he would do.

JJ bit her lip as she tried not to think about what her best friend was going through. He had to be okay. He had to. He had been through so much in his life. He had grown up with a schizophrenic mother, been relentlessly bullied for his gifted mind, been abducted twice, kicked a drug habit, contracted anthrax, been shot twice, he saw the woman he loved die right in front of him, hell he'd even died then been resuscitated! He was the most resilient man JJ had ever met. He had to be okay.

Hotch cursed himself for letting Reid talk to the victim's fiancé alone. He knew it was useless to think, but his minds kept insisting that he could have done something. Logically, he knew that was impossible. Blaine had had his sights set on Reid for a long time, and he would've gotten him with or without Hotch present. Hotch just so badly wanted the youngest member of their BAU family to be back safely with them.

Morgan was ready to put Blaine's head on display over his mantle. He was furious with the man for taking his best friend, who was more like a little brother. He was getting Reid back and making Blaine pay. Who was he to decide who lives and who dies? He was not sentencing Reid to death. Morgan would not let that happen.

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

Makaia cowered in the corner, curled up in a tight ball. She forced her head down into her knees, refusing to look at the dead faces of the people who were going to adopt her in a few short weeks.

Dr. Reid's cried of pain reverberated through the room. They slowly got louder and Makaia wondered what in god's name their captor was subjecting him to now. She wanted the screaming to stop. She wanted the cold to stop. She wanted the pain to stop. She just wanted everything to stop.

Death wouldn't be so bad.

After a while of trying to figure out a way to kill herself, the screaming stopped. The silence was almost worse. Almost.

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

After a while, Reid's body went numb. He could no longer feel the harsh belt marks on his skin.

His mind wandered to Makaia; was she okay? Well obviously not. She had just been forced to watch as her family was murdered in front of her.

Reid closed his eyes, giving into the darkness that had threatened his vision for so long, and just hoped that the unsub would leave Makaia alone for now.

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

Morgan kicked the door in and Hotch all but ran into the dark front room of the warehouse. JJ followed quickly behind the unit chief, Morgan jumped into line in front of Rossi and Blake brought up the rear. Four police officers came in behind them.

They shone the beams of their flashlights around, finding two doors. Hotch and Rossi went through the one on the right hand side while Blake, JJ and Morgan went through the left door. Two uniforms followed each group.

Hotch lead his group down a hallway and to yet another door. He tried the knob and found it locked. The unit chief took a step back before kicking right above the knob where the lock would be.

The door splintered and the narrow hall opened into a wide, twenty foot by twenty foot room. The grimy light bulb hanging from the ceiling gave off little light, but enough to see that there were three chairs with people, who were obviously dead, tied to them.

Hotch moved into the room with Rossi on his heels. The officers stayed near the door, watching for Blaine.

As the agents got closer to the dead people, they saw Makaia, curled into a ball in the corner.

"Makaia." Hotch said gently, putting his gun in its holster. "Makaia it's okay. You're safe now." she slowly looked up, terror and sadness in her eyes as Hotch approached her. "My name is Aaron. I'm with the FBI." Hotch walked around the dead bodies, not looking at their faces, keeping eye contact with Makaia. He was startled when she talked.

"Where's Doctor Reid?" Her voice was small and scared.

"We have another team of agents searching right now." Hotch explained, crouching down a few feet away from the cowering girl, not wanting to make her feel trapped. He noticed the chain around her ankle. "I've got Makaia, we need a medic and bolt cutters." He said into his radio. Moments later, a medic appeared with bolt cutters.

"Hotch." He turned to face Rossi. "Look." For the first time, Hotch looked at the bodies.

It was the Charston family.

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

JJ was relieved when Hotch's voice came through the radio, proclaiming they had found Makaia. She and Blake were slowly making their way down a hall, Morgan and the officers had split off down a side corridor.

A few yards later, the hallway ended with a door. Luckily, it was unlocked. JJ and Blake entered the, shocked at the sight before them.

"Spence!" JJ exclaimed, immediately ripping her jacket off to cover his unclothed, half purple, bleeding, swollen body. "Oh my god." She saw the electric burns on his chest and temples, the claw mark across his face and the gash on the side of his head.

"We've got Reid." JJ heard Blake say through the Radio. "We need a medic and bolt cutters too." Blake turned to JJ. "I'm going to get them."

"I'm staying here." JJ held her gun ready, blocking Reid as best she could while also watching to door. Blake hurried out the door to find the medic and bring them to Reid.

Moments later, Morgan came rushing into the room. "Oh my god." He breathed, taking in Reid's bruised, bloody form.

"JJ?" she whirled around at the sound of her whispered name.

"Spence." There were tears in her eyes. "Spence it's okay. We're here now. You're safe."

"Makaia…?" his eyes were barely open and his voice was strained, but he was still concerned for the other victim. Typical Reid.

"She's fine." JJ smiled.

"Reid." Morgan rushed to the bedside. "Please tell me he didn't…" Morgan couldn't finish his sentence, he was too horrified.

"No. He didn't." Reid spoke quickly, reassuring his teammates as much as himself.

Morgan and JJ both breathed sighs of relief. They didn't know how they would have reacted if the creep had raped Reid.

"Where…" Reid was starting to fade again. "Where is he?" his eyes fluttered shut.

"Reid." Morgan commanded. "Open your eyes." He wasn't sure how much head trauma the young agent had endured. JJ was secretly grateful that she didn't have to tell Reid they hadn't found Blaine yet. "REID!" he wasn't opening his eyes.

Luckily, Blake led the medics into the room at that moment. The three agents stood back as the cuffs were cut and Reid was gently loaded onto a gurney and rolled out of the room.

That was when the realization set in. Reid was back. He was with them.

But Blaine was nowhere to be found.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed! Please review! I will try my hardest to update tomorrow or possibly even later today, but life. V** **aarwel!**


	16. Chapter 16

**I managed to quickly finish this chapter this morning but my WiFi cut out right before I posted because Rogers sucks. So, my lovelies, my internet has stopped throwing its temper tantrum and here is my next chapter!**

 **(although it is my goal in life, I don't own criminal minds or any characters associated with its production)**

 **Begin!**

* * *

Hotch watched as Makaia was coaxed onto a gurney and rolled out of the room. He sighed, staring at the dead family before him. "Can you imagine?" He turned to Rossi. "He killed them in front of her. They were the only people in five years that cared about her."

"This job makes you doubt everything about yourself and others." Rossi admitted. "Come on. They found Reid."

Hotch followed Rossi back the way they had come, exiting onto the emergency vehicle filled cement parking lot, leaving uniforms to search the rest of the building for Blaine. The two agents watched as Makaia-who held her knees tight to her chest and flinched at every touch-was loaded into one of the ambulances. She didn't seem to have any injuries that needed immediate medical attention, but she was still being taken to the hospital just to be safe. Hotch watched as the ambulance drove away.

"Hotch." Suddenly, JJ was beside him. The unit chief whirled around just in time to see Reid being loaded into a second ambulance. Before Hotch had a chance to make a move, Morgan jumped into the ambulance and the doors closed. "Come on!" JJ, Blake and Rossi were already jogging towards the SUVs.

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

Morgan met the rest of the team as they filed into the waiting room. "They kicked me out of Reid's room until they're done checking him out." He explained before any of them could ask why he wasn't with the genius.

"Is there any word on Makaia?" JJ asked. She had been concerned for the poor girl after hearing that she had seen her family killed in front of her.

"Are you family?" the team turned to see a young looking male doctor approaching them. His nose was buried in a chart, which would be how he managed to miss the bold, yellow FBI printed across all of their jackets.

"No." Hotch stated, pulling out his credentials. "We're from the FBI and-"

"I can't give information to anyone other than family." The doctor interjected.

"Well then you won't be reporting to anyone." Rossi said, an edge of anger tinting his voice. He clearly felt for the girl, as the rest of the team did. "We are working her case. The case where she just witnessed her family get murdered in front of her. So I suggest you tell us if she's okay or not."

The doctor looked taken aback by Rossi's slight outburst. "My apologies agent. Miss Alcina will be fine. She has some contusions and minor lacerations, only one of which needed stitches. The biggest issues were a cracked rib and her slight malnutrition. She was being given nutrients through an IV for some time, but not for long. The rib will heal on its own and we are going to keep her for a day or two for observation and to keep her on the IV. She will most likely be discharged by Saturday."

"Thank you." Blake said, politely before anyone could get words out. "Do you have information on Spencer Reid?"

"Dr. Rivers should be finished with him soon." The doctor's pager beeped and he looked at the screen. "I need to attend to another patient. Miss Alcina is in room one twenty four."

The doctor scurried away.

"I'll go see her." JJ said, turning towards her room. "Let me know when you hear about Spence."

Everyone nodded as JJ walked down the hall.

Room one twenty four was just around the corner. JJ knocked on the open door, causing Makaia to jump. "Hi." JJ said quietly, trying to sound comforting. Makaia had her knees pulled up to her chest, arms wrapped tightly around her shins. She was hooked up to an IV line and heart rate monitor that was beating slightly faster than it should have been. "I'm agent Jareau, with the FBI. You can call me Jennifer, or JJ if you like. Can I sit?"

"Sure." Her voice was small and frightened. JJ's heart immediately went out to the terrified child as she dragged the plastic chair that was in the corner of the room a bit closer to the bed. "Is Doctor Reid okay?"

It surprised JJ when Makaia instigated conversation. "A doctor is just checking him over." JJ said, trying to appear as friendly and approachable as possible. "He'll be okay. He's strong." JJ couldn't help the tiny smirk that pulled at the corners of her lips when she thought about her son's godfather.

"Good." Makaia seemed to relax a bit.

"How are you doing?" JJ asked, slightly hesitantly. She wanted to help the girl, but didn't want to push her.

Makaia looked at JJ for the first time, and the agent could see tears brimming wide, bloodshot, grey-blue eyes.

It was amazing how much insight a person could gain from simply catching a glimpse of another's eyes. Makaia's eyes held more pain, fear, sadness and anger than any person should every have to endure in their lifetime. But they also held intelligence, strength. A certain knowing determination that told JJ the trembling teenager in front of her would be okay someday. That someday would certainly not come soon, but it would come.

"I'm okay." Was the small response JJ received. "Do you think…?" Makaia trailed off, looking away from JJ.

"Do it think, what?" JJ leaned forwards ever so slightly. She wanted to take Makaia' hand, wrap her in a tight, comforting embrace; but she knew better than to even offer a hand to hold. Makaia wouldn't trust JJ, and that thought made Makaia's request become blatantly obvious to JJ right before she asked it.

"Is there any possibility that Dr. Reid and I might be put in the same room?" the hope that pushed all other emotions from Makaia's eyes made JJ melt. "I mean, if he wouldn't mind, of course."

"As soon as I get a chance, I will put that request in for you." JJ smiled slightly. "I'm sure Spence would prefer having you close anyways, when we found him, he asked about you before anything."

That prompted a smile out of Makaia. A fleeting tug at the left corner of her lip. It was gone almost before it came, but JJ caught it. "Thank you."

"Absolutely." JJ nodded reassuringly.

"JJ?" She turned at the sound of Morgan's voice. "We can see Reid now."

"Okay." Morgan stayed in the doorway as JJ turned back to Makaia. "Do you want me to stay?" she asked.

"No, you need to see Dr. Reid. But…" Makaia looked up at Morgan, then back at JJ.

"You want Morgan to stay?" JJ asked gently, slightly surprised that she would want a man in her presence after what she'd been through.

"Just… I don't want to be alone." She sounded ashamed, as if her request was completely unreasonable. "Especially since he's not in custody." The second part was so quiet that JJ and Morgan barely heard it. But they did hear it, and guilt began rolling in their stomachs. The monster that had killed Makaia's family was still out there.

JJ's mind turned to the massive collage dedicated to Reid and the smaller one of Makaia on the back wall of Blaine's hidden basement and the knot of guilt in her stomach clenched tighter. If Blaine had stalked the two for that long, he was probably not going to give them up easily.

* * *

 **Sorry, Reid really wasn't in this chapter... I cranked this one out pretty quickly and figured since Reid was unconscious when last I wrote, it wouldn't be very exciting for the team to just sit there and look at him. Oh well, he will be in the next one!** **Auf wiedersehen!**


	17. Chapter 17

**I'm so sorry for the delay! I've been super busy getting ready for back to school and stuff. Since I start back on Tuesday, I will probably be able to get another two or three chapters up before then, but once I'm back to classes and extracurriculars start up again, I will most likely only be able to post once or twice a week. On the semi bright side, I don't think this story is going to be too much longer. I may or may not be planning a sequel though :). Anyways, enough of my useless chatter.**

 **(I don't own criminal minds or any of their characters)**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

"I presume you are here for Agent Reid?" a young, female doctor caused the team's heads to snap up.

"Doctor Reid." Everyone chorused, detesting the incorrect title.

"My apologies." She nodded in understanding. "My name is Dr. Samantha Rivers, and I will be looking after Dr. Reid while he is here." Dr. Rivers didn't even glance down at the chart in her hand as she began explaining the youngest team member's injuries. "Starting from the top and working down, Dr. Reid has a major concussion and needed stitches for the laceration on his temple. However, the MRI did not detect any bleeding or abnormal swelling in the brain, so that will clear itself up in a week or two. The scratches on his face are quite superficial, just cosmetic damage. As long as they are kept clean, there should be little to no scarring. To be honest, I was worried about the severity of the electrical burns on Dr. Reid's chest and head, especially considering that the high amperage was entering almost directly into the brain. However, as I said before, the MRI didn't pick up on anything abnormal besides the swelling the concussion caused. Also, when I was talking to him, Dr. Reid did not seem to have any trouble with speech or linking thoughts, which means there is most likely no brain damage. And his heartbeat is steady, not irregular, meaning it is unlikely he has developed a heart condition from the strain. The burns will scar, but I think his hair will cover the ones on his temples for the most part."

Dr. Rivers paused for a moment, letting all of the information about Reid's damaged head sink in, before proceeding with her explanation. "Muscles in Dr. Reid's neck and back were inflamed, which will cause some discomfort and pain for a couple of weeks, but it's nothing to worry about too much. The bruising, swelling and lacerations down the left side of his body were caused by a belt, as I'm sure you knew. Only three of the cuts needed stitches, but belt marks almost always scar. It will be quite painful for Dr. Reid to move around for a few days given his injuries, but I have no doubts that he will make a full recovery and will be discharged in about seven to nine days."

The team stood in silence for a moment, digesting what their young, innocent genius had gone through.

"May we see him?" Blake asked, breaking the brief but heavy silence.

"Of course." Dr. Rivers smiled. "I suggest one at a time though, he's going to have quite a headache for the next couple of days so we're keeping the light and sound at a minimum."

"I'll get JJ." Morgan said, having already seen Reid and knowing Hotch would want to see him first.

"Room one sixteen." Dr. Rivers said before Morgan turned to leave. "If you'll follow me." She said to the rest of the team, turning towards Reid's room.

Hotch went directly into the room and nobody protested. Blake and Rossi stayed outside, sitting in the uncomfortable hospital chairs across the hallway from the door.

The lights were dim inside of the room and Reid lay propped up in his bed, eyes half open. There was a bandage wrapped around his head, covering the stitches, but the claw marks down his face were red and puffy. Frankly, they looked angry. "Hey." Hotch said gently, closing the door as quietly as possible before going to sit in a chair next to Reid's bed.

"Hey." The voice was cracked and quiet, holding so many emotions that Hotch didn't care to figure them all out.

"Reid, I am so sorry that I let-"

"No." Reid interjected as firmly as he could. "Do not apologize. It's not your fault. You did not let it happen, Hotch. Even if you were there, you couldn't have done anything to stop it."

Knowing Reid was right but still feeling horribly guilty, Hotch decided it best not to fight with his injured colleague. "How are you doing?" He decided changing the subject would be the best course of action.

"About how you'd expect." Hotch could tell that Reid was withholding emotions, just as he'd done after Tobias Hankel. "How's Makaia?" Reid was eager to change the subject.

"She'll be okay."

"She's a tough kid." Reid sighed.

"That she is."

"She told me about all of those awful homes she was in." Reid sounded guilty, as if he felt he should have been able to do something despite the fact that he had never met the girl until six days ago. Typical Reid.

"I'm sure she'll find another good home." Hotch's attempt at reassurance was met with an incredulous look from his younger teammate.

"That was her thirteenth, Hotch. THIRTEEN." A jolt of pain shot through Reid's head as he raised his voice and both hands instinctively pressed against his temples, eyes squeezed shut.

Hotch rested a hand on Reid's shoulder and he flinched away, shoulders tensing up. "Hey," Hotch removed his hand, noticing Reid's fear, "hey. Calm down. You know getting mad will just make it worse."

"I realize that negative emotions will raise my blood pressure, causing increased heartrate, more pressure in cerebral arteries and worsening headaches." Reid spoke through clenched teeth, tension in his shoulders slowly releasing. "I'm fine." He assured, seeing Hotch's concerned expression.

"You don't need to play this down Reid." Hotch said gently but firmly, telling Reid he was there for him but also meant business. "No one is expecting you to just be fine."

"I realize." His voice was barely a whisper. Hotch thought Reid might continue, but he stopped, keeping his thoughts contained.

"I'm going to ask you again, and you are going to answer me honestly." Hotch insisted, keeping his voice less strict than normal. "How are you doing?"

Reid finally allowed the tears he'd been holding to brim his eyes, but did not let them fall. "He knew… so much about me. And now, he could be anywhere. And I… I'm just… scared."

* * *

 **Again, I apologize for the long wait. I'm hoping to get the next one up tomorrow. Do Widzenia!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Allo! I just want to say a quick thank you to everyone that has followed this story form the beginning! You guys are great and I love all of the positive reviews (although I could bear a few more *wink*). I hope you enjoy this chapter, and all of the previous chapters, and all of the chapters to come!**

 **(I do not own criminal minds or any of their characters)**

 **Good luck, I guess!**

* * *

JJ came around the corner, seeing Blake and Rossi sitting silently in the plastic hospital chairs across the hall from a room she assumed was Reid's. Blake saw JJ as she came down the hall way and stood to meet her.

"How's she doing?" Blake asked, giving JJ a quick hug. She looked a bit shaken, which was completely justified given the events that took place in the past week.

"What do you think?" JJ asked, not rudely. "She's horrified." JJ and Blake sat down with Rossi. "Morgan's going to stay with her for a little while. I'm going back later, I just have to do something for her first."

"And what would that be?" Rossi questioned, curious.

"She asked to be moved into Spence's room." JJ explained. "I have to clear it with him and his doctor."

"I'm sure his consent will be easily gained." Blake said, smiling slightly. "Given what we know about her, I'm surprised they aren't related."

"She could easily be his daughter." Rossi smirked, thinking of what a great father Reid would be.

"She's had such an awful life." JJ sounded almost angry, but more disappointed as she spoke. "She's been through more than all of us combined, and she's only fifteen."

"It's amazing how many people out there sign up for the foster system just because they need someone to take their aggression out on." Rossi sounded irritated. He always hated child cases. However, this one was worse considering the team hadn't even known about the previous abuse. "The ones responsible for screening the applicants need to do a more thorough job."

"Agreed." Blake sighed, leaning back against the wall for all of four seconds before Hotch came out of Reid's room.

"How is he?" JJ was on her feet so fast the others didn't even see her move.

"He'll be okay." Hotch assured.

There was no debate about who was going to see Reid next. Blake and Rossi sat back as JJ quietly eased the door open and Hotch took a seat. Just before she entered the room however, JJ turned back to the others. "Did anyone tell Garcia?" she looked completely shocked that none of them had thought about their analyst and even more shocked she hadn't called already.

The others looked at each other, shaking their heads. "I'll do it." JJ volunteered. "She's going to want proof of life." She just caught Hotch's nod as she slipped into Reid's room and closed the door as quietly as possible.

"Hey, Spence." She kept her voice low, not wanting to aggravate his obvious concussion as she took a seat in the chair by the top of his bed.

"Hey." He sounded exhausted and was probably fighting to stay awake.

"Makaia asked me to ask you something."

"Yeah?" Reid looked ten times more awake at the mention of the younger genius. "What does she need?"

"She was wondering if you would mind her sharing a room with you. She doesn't want to be alone."

"Absolutely." Reid's answer was immediate. He wanted to watch over the unfortunate girl and would adore the intellectual company that would serve as a distraction for both of them.

"Good." JJ made a mental note to talk to Reid's doctor when she came back. "So nobody told Garcia we found you yet." JJ smirked, thinking about how utterly ignorant all of them had been. "And I figured she'd want to hear your voice, so…" JJ pulled out her cell phone. "You okay with this?" she asked, wanting to be sure she was making the right move.

"Absolutely." Reid's smile was implied through his voice as he wasn't quite able to force the corners of his lips to curl.

JJ smiled and selected Garcia's number off of her speed dial and pressed the speakerphone button. The phone only got through half a ring before Garcia picked up. "OH MY GOD! I haven't talked to any of you in like five-no! Six hours! I was hoping it was a 'no news is good news' situation but seriously! Even if its bad news KEEP ME IN THE LOOP!" Garcia finally paused to take a huge breath. "PLEASE tell me you found him!" it was obvious Garcia was crying, although JJ and Reid didn't need a phone call to know that.

"Hi Garcia." The left side of Reid's lip twitched up slightly as he heard Garcia's fretting spiel.

"REID! OH MY GOD! ARE YOU OKAY? REID! JUST, OH MY GOD REID!" Garcia burst into tears at the sound of her boy wonder's voice. "How are you?" she seemed to regain a bit of self-control after overcoming the initial shock.

"I'll be okay." Reid sounded so exhausted that it made JJ think of Henry when he refused to go to bed, claiming he wasn't tired as he couldn't even manage to keep his head up straight.

"I'm catching the next flight out of here!" Garcia exclaimed, already typing away on her keys to book a plane ticket.

"No." Reid's voice interrupted Garcia's key-clicking. "Don't do that. I need a favor."

"Anything." Garcia sighed, sounding tired but eager. "Name it and it's done."

Just then, Dr. Rivers came back into the room.

"I'll call you back in a few minutes, Garcia." JJ said, holding up a finger at the doctor, who waited patiently. "Reid's doctor just came in."

"Okay." Garcia sounded disappointed as she answered, clearly wanting to carry out Reid's unknown request. "I love you! Both of you! Be safe!" with that, the line clicked and dead air accompanied the beeping of Reid's heart rate monitor.

"I don't believe we've met." Dr. Rivers addressed JJ. "I'm Dr. Rivers."

"Agent Jareau." JJ smiled but remained sitting.

"Hi, Dr. Reid." Dr. Rivers smiled as she came further into the room. "How are you feeling?"

"Not much better than I did an hour ago." His voice wasn't rude, it was simply factual. "Thank you for keeping the lights low."

"No problem." JJ noted how sincere Dr. Rivers' constant grin was. She clearly enjoyed her work. "Are you sure you wouldn't like any morphine to make oyu more comfortable?"

"No thank you." The response was curt and quick, more of an all-out refusal than a polite decline. JJ knew why of course; everyone on the team did.

"Alright." The smile never wavered. "Can I get you anything?"

"I'm fine thanks." Reid was a tad irritated by the narcotic question and just wanted the doctor to leave before he got angry and yelled at someone, mostly because it would hurt his head to no extent.

"Alrighty." Suddenly her pager beeped, she looked down, silencing the shrill, electronic noise. "Well, another patient needs my attention. I'll be back later, Dr. Reid." Dr. Rivers turned to leave but JJ got up quickly.

"Dr. Rivers." She called before her hand reached the knob.

"Yes?"

"Would there be any possibility of Dr. Reid and Makaia Alcina would be able to share a room?" JJ kept an edge of enforcement in her gentle voice, implying that it was important.

"Absolutely." If it was possible, Dr. Rivers smile widened. "I'll take care of that within the hour."

"Thank you." JJ and Reid said at the same time as Dr. Rivers hurried off to attend to her other patients.

JJ sat back down and looked at Reid, taking in the scratched across his pale, fragile looking face. "So what do you need Garcia to do for you?"

"Well, I need your help too." He admitted sheepishly.

"Oh yeah?" JJ sat back, smirking at Reid's request for assistance. He usually didn't admit he needed help. "So what do you need the two of us for?"

"Well you see, I-" Reid was cut off by Blake entering the room.

"JJ go." She said, urgently. "Morgan and I are staying here. Security cameras a mile away caught a shot of Blaine."

* * *

 **Kind of realizing Reid may have come off a bit pedophilic in this fic... That was not my intention and I really hope it didn't read that way! :') a**

 **Hope you enjoyed! I'm trying for an update tomorrow, but no promises. Please review! I love the feedback! Agur!**


	19. Chapter 19

**I have returned! I don't really have much to say here, but shout-out to** **tannerose5** **for eleven reviews! Insanity! But good insanity; not, like the scary kind. Anyways, thank you!**

 **(I don't own criminal minds or any of its characters)**

 **AAAAANNNNNNDDDDDDD go.**

* * *

"Good news." Morgan said, looking down at the text he just received from Hotch. "Blaine was caught on tape a mile from here."

"Blaine?" Makaia was confused, who was Blaine?

"The unsub." Morgan said without thinking. After thirty minutes of chatting about typical things,-and listening to Makaia babble on about things he didn't understand-Morgan had finally gotten her to relax enough to sit cross-legged on the bed rather than having her knees tucked into her chest. After she heard Morgan mention Blaine, she completely closed off again, her mental walls banging back into place. "Hey, hey." Morgan tried to be comforting. "That's a good thing. The rest of our team is going after him right now. And if his car has GPS, our technical analyst can track his location. Either way, there's an APB out on this guy. He's not getting away again."

"But…" Makaia took a deep breath, trying to calm down, and instinctively wrapped her arms around her knees again, protecting herself. "He's so close. He could be heading here." She felt ridiculous suggesting such a thing, but terror overtook common sense in traumatic situations.

"And that's why I'm here." Morgan explained. He knew full well that the young genius knew exactly why he had hung around, but she was clearly not thinking straight in her state of semi-panic. "I won't let anything happen to you, sweetheart. Come on, breathe."

Makaia forced her breaths to even out, eventually relaxing enough to sit with her legs crossed again, although she kept her arms wrapped around her torso.

"Hi, Makaia." A friendly female voice came from the doorway and Morgan turned to see Dr. Rivers enter the room. Makaia looked up, unconsciously leaning away from the doctor. "I'm Dr. Rivers; I'm looking after Dr. Reid." Morgan could see the tension lessen in Makaia's shoulders once she knew who the woman was. "Agent Jareau told me you'd like to be in Dr. Reid's room."

"If it's a possibility, I would appreciate it." Morgan could not get over how much this reminded him of Reid.

"It's absolutely a possibility." Dr. Reivers spoke to Makaia as of speaking to a child, which she was, however she was mature beyond her years. She had been forced to grow up too fast, just like Reid. "You can move now if you like."

"That would be great, thanks."

"Would you like to walk? Or would you prefer if I brought you a wheelchair?"

"I'll walk." Makaia peered over the edge of the bed as she placed her feet on the floor. The expression on her face suggested she was afraid the building would implode if any weight was applied to the floor.

Dr. Rivers unhooked Makaia from the heart rate monitor and hung her IV bag on a wheeled rack. "Here." Dr. Rivers offered the rolling pole to Makaia and she gladly took it, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the cool metal. As the trio walked slowly out of the room, Dr. Rivers turned to Makaia again. "Since you will be in Dr. Reid's room, I'm going to be looking after you now instead of Dr. Graham. Is that okay?"

"Yes." She was genuinely happy that she had a female doctor now.

As they walked down the hall, Morgan noticed Makaia was swaying a bit and offered her his arm for balance. What surprised him more than anything was the fact that she actually snaked her fingers around his bicep, shooting the agent a grateful look.

It took four minutes to get to Reid's room considering Makaia's slightly weakened state. When the trio entered, Blake was sitting in a chair at the head of a sleeping Reid's bed. A second bed and a set of machines had been set up near the back wall of the room, about nine feet from Reid's. Morgan walked Makaia over to her bed quietly, not wanting to disturb the other genius in the room while he slept.

Once Makaia climbed onto the bed, Morgan stepped back to let Dr. Rivers hook up the heart rate monitor and watched Makaia curl in on herself again, peering over at Reid with a guilty look on her face. Morgan could tell by the way she dug under the fingernails of her left hand that she had inflicted the scratches across Reid's face. He wondered what possessed her to do such a thing and felt a tiny flame of anger flare in his chest for a second before he extinguished it.

 _'_ _She didn't do it by choice.'_ He assured himself, knowing the traumatized girl in front of him wouldn't inflict harm on anyone purposely _. 'And being mad about it won't help anyone. Reid is back now. He's safe here.'_

Everyone jumped as Blake's cellphone rang. She hurried out of the room to answer it. "Yeah, JJ." Morgan heard her answer before the door closed completely.

Dr. Rivers finished adjusting knobs and wires before smiling down at Makaia and then turning so she could face both her and Morgan at the same time. "I'll be back in a couple of hours to check on both of you." She said, cheerily. Her peppy tone was starting to annoy Morgan the slightest bit. "Try to get some rest; and of you need anything, hit the call button and I'll be in here ASAP."

"Thank you." Morgan said flatly as the doctor showed herself out.

As Dr. Rivers left, Blake beckoned Morgan outside. He nodded to Makaia and cast a quick glance at his battered best friend before exiting to the hallway.

"They can't find him." Blake said as soon as the door as closed.

"He was caught on tape like fifteen minutes ago. Where the hell could he have gone?" Morgan tried to keep his voice controlled, but only succeeded in keeping his angry tone quiet.

"I don't know." Blake shook her head in annoyance. "The car was stolen and the GPS is disconnected so Garcia can't track him."

"He could be here." Morgan almost whispered.

"Yeah." Blake's voice was as low as Morgan's. "Yeah he could."

* * *

 **Please review! Comments make my day and inspire me to write more ;) I hope to update tomorrow. Zbogom!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Hey hey hey! so I just started grade eleven today and I've been super stressed about it for the past few days, hence my absence. I'm sorry to say that my updates will be on Friday nights and weekends from now on unled I find time to update between school homework and dance (which I might, you never know). Anyways, I hope you enjoy!**

 **(I don't own Reid, Blake, Morgan, Garcia, Hotch, Rossi or JJ)**

 **Let's get into it!**

* * *

Makaia needed to solve something. She needed to keep her mind off of Blaine. It took her less than thirty seconds to figure out that the beeping of her and Dr. Reid's heartrate monitors synchronized every twenty eight beats of her heart and every thirty two beats of his.

It took her three seconds to figure out how long it had been since she had seen her mother: five years, three months, two weeks and four days.

She caught a peek of her chart, saw the date was August eleventh, and immediately knew her sixteenth birthday was in exactly two months.

She knew it had been about two days since she saw her family get slaughtered in front of her.

Makaia felt numb. She felt empty. The first people that had cared about her since her mother was committed had just been murdered in front of her.

And it was all her fault.

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

Blake went back into Reid and Makaia's room while Morgan stayed outside. The agent was glad to see the Makaia had finally relaxed enough-or had become exhausted enough-to lay down and shut her eyes. She was still curled in the fetal position, her arms wrapped tightly around her bent knees, but she needed sleep no matter how she was positioned.

Blake picked up the chair she had previously been sitting in and quietly brought it around the foot of Reid's bed, setting it down halfway between the two beds silently. She made sure to position the chair in such a way that she could see both geniuses-should one of them need help-and the door that Morgan stood in front of.

Blake's gaze travelled from Reid to Makaia and back again countless times as she watched over the two, feeling very motherly as she did so. She took in all the visible injuries; the claw mark across Reid's face, the bandage around his forehead and the electrical burns peeking out just under the edge, the bruise under Makaia's left eye and multiple others on her arms and legs. The nurses and doctors hadn't been able to get Makaia to put on a hospital gown, so she had stayed in her green t-shirt and denim shorts. The same green t-shirt and denim shorts that were splattered with her family's blood…

Blake shook her head and tried not to think about the family for now. She was transfixed with Makaia's messy golden locks when she heard Reid gasp. Blake's head immediately snapped up and to her young colleague, who had wide eyes and was taking quick, shallow breaths. The older agent was on her feet and next to Reid in an instant.

"Hey, Reid." Blake kept her voice soft and comforting and Reid's eyes darted around. "Hey, it's okay." She knelt by the bedside so she was at Reid's height. He looked at her, but she could tell he wasn't quite seeing her. "Reid, Reid look at me. It's okay. You're safe now. It was just a nightmare."

"Not a nightmare." Reid's breathing was becoming slower and his eyes more focussed as he calmed down. "A memory. Well," he looked puzzled for a moment, as if remembering something, "kind of."

"Are you okay?" Blake knew it was futile; Reid wasn't okay, but he would never admit that.

"Yeah, yeah. Fine." Blake hated the fact that he brushed the question off as if he had gotten a paper cut.

"Do you want to talk about it?" The older agent was very surprised by the answer she received.

"Well," he noticed the second bed and peered over Blake's shoulder to ensure Makaia was sleeping before he spoke, "it was just like what happened to Makaia's family." He said in a low tone, not wanting to wake the sleeping teenager across the room. "Only, you guys were in the chairs. Even Garcia." Reid's sad eyes pierced Blake's heart. She knew Reid cared for the team more than anything, even himself.

"Well it was just a dream." Blake was trying to assure herself as much as her colleague. "We're all alive and safe. So are you. So is Makaia."

"Yeah, I know." Reid looked incredibly miserable, the same way he had looked when Maeve died but without the tears. "But… I was so useless. Those people dies not fifteen feet in front of me and I couldn't do a thing to help them."

"It's not your fault." Blake knew exactly how Reid felt. It was the worst feeling when an unsub couldn't be talked down, and Reid didn't even have a gun like he normally would have. "The only person to blame for this is Charles Blaine. He's the one that pulled the trigger."

"Yeah." Reid whispered, clearly not agreeing with Blake. "Hey, I want to run something by you." He said, his voice taking on a slightly less depressed tone.

"Sure. Anything" Blake smiled. Reid told Blake his idea, making her smile turn into a broad grin as she heard what he wanted to do.

"What do you think?" he asked sheepishly, as if he'd just suggested something horribly illogical.

"I think it's a wonderful idea." Blake genuinely meant it. "And I'm sure Garcia can take care of everything for you."

"I'm having her consult with JJ though, just to make sure she doesn't go overboard." Reid smirked the slightest bit, causing a flood of happiness to go through Blake.

"That's probably a very good idea." Blake chuckled, thinking of what Garcia might do if she took on the task alone.

"Yeah."

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

After a few hours of standing outside the door, Morgan's phone rang loudly, earning him a glare from a passing nurse. "Hotch." Morgan greeted, noting the ID.

"Morgan, you aren't going to believe this."

* * *

 **Sorry about the wait! My train of thought was not returning to the station. Oh well. Any guesses of what Reid's plan is? As always, please review! N** **äkemiin!**


	21. Chapter 21

**I'm so so so so sssooooooooo sorry about the long wait!**

 **I had so much homework the first two weeks, it was unreal. English and math in the same semester is not fun. I'm trying my best to write a bit during the week and post on weekends, but I'm afraid my updates are going to be much more irregular than that. Okay, enough of my excuses, you're here for the story!**

 **(I don't own criminal minds and all that jazz)**

 **Okay go!**

 _"_ _Morgan, you aren't going to believe this."_

Hotch's voice was angry and strict, but tainted with relief.

"What is it?" Morgan stood up slightly taller, straightening his tired shoulders curiously.

"Blaine turned himself in." Hotch's voice was incredulous, even though he was standing outside of the two way mirror, looking directly at the bastard. "He drove to Malibu to do it but he turned himself in."

"You're in Malibu?!" Morgan exclaimed, slightly ticked. "Why didn't you call earlier?"

"Because we needed to be sure it was him first." Hotch reasoned. "And to be honest, we were so caught up in everything that we forgot."

"Fine." Morgan understood the negative kind of excitement that comes with a confession. "Just keep us posted."

"Of course." Hotch ended the call and looked into the glass, disgusted at the man who had admitted to the Malibu Police that he was the culprit.

JJ and Rossi stood on either side of Hotch, disgust and anger seeping through their stoic masks. They all stared at Blaine, who was handcuffed to the table, for about ten minutes. He was leaning back in his chair, looking completely relaxed, albeit a tad irritated, as if he was waiting for something. He was definitely the kind of person to which neighbors would say 'oh no, he isn't capable of that!' when you told them he was a suspect.

Without saying a word, Hotch went to the door of the interrogation room and walked in, careful to keep his face emotionless but stern at the same time, a look he had mastered over the years. Rossi and JJ stayed outside, watching through the glass and listening through the speaker.

"Hey Hotch." Blaine greeted, almost cheerily. "How're my friends doing? I miss them ya know." Hotch's expression never wavered. He expected Blaine to know who he was considering the time he'd spent stalking Reid.

"It's Agent Hotchner to you." He managed to keep the bitterness out of his tone and he took a seat across from Blaine.

 **CMCMCMCMCM**

Blake leaned against the back of her chair, head lolling slightly forwards as she dozed. After Reid had told her his plans to foster Makaia, he had gotten tired again and began to nod off. Blake was glad to just sit there and watch the two young geniuses sleep, keeping one eye on the door.

A couple of hours after Reid had fallen back asleep, Morgan had told Blake Blaine had turned himself in, in Malibu. Blake had been extremely relieved and gladly accepted Morgan's offer to go on a coffee run. She relished the idea of a caffeine kick now that her adrenaline high was diminishing and her sleep deprivation was catching up to her.

A few minutes after Morgan left, Blake was drifting off herself.

Just before she was completely asleep however, a soft whimper caused Blake's eyes to snap open. She looked first to Reid, who seemed to be sleeping soundly, then to Makaia, whose brows were knit as if in concern. Blake waited for a moment, knowing she shouldn't wake Makaia unled she was in danger of hurting herself. People usually either wake themselves up from nightmares or go through them and don't remember them in the morning.

Makaia whimpered again and Blake's heart sank. The poor girl sounded so sad and innocent, so utterly terrified. Blake decided she should wake Makaia and rescue her from her own mind.

Just as the agent got to Makaia's bedside, the teenager jerked violently to the side, rolling onto her back and nearly punching Blake-who jumped back just in time-square in the face as her arms flailed. "No!" she shouted, he voice filled with rage and malice. "NO!" Makaia's heart rate monitor was beeping much faster than it had been thirty seconds ago.

Blake grabbed Makaia's shoulders and shook her gently. "Makaia." She said firmly. "Wake up."

Makaia's eyes flew open and she shot straight up into a sitting position. Her breathing was ragged and her eyes darted around, terrified. Bake took a step back, not wanting to crowd her. "Hey." She said gently, kneeling before the bed. "It's okay. You're safe." Makaia found Blake's eyes and seemed to come back into reality. "It was just a bad dream." Blake soothed. The beeping of the heart rate monitor began to slow back down to a normal pace. Blake then realized Makaia didn't yet know who she was. "I'm agent Blake." She said with a soft smile.

"Hi." Makaia's voice was soft and innocent but tainted with despair and fear.

"We found Blaine." Blake said encouragingly, hoping the teenager in front of her may crack a smile. "He's in custody now."

"Good." Makaia's left arm snaked around her torso, clutching at what Blake assumed was a broken rib.

"Can I get you anything?" Blake asked, concern for the girl flooding into her words.

"No, thank you." She shook her head slightly but then seemed to realize something. "Actually, if it's not too much trouble…" she trailed off and ducked her head, clearly not liking asking for anything. In the thirty seconds Blake had been talking to Makaia, she was amazed at the similarities between the child and Reid.

"What is it?" Blake prompted softly.

"Is there any chance I could get a toothbrush?" Blake could tell Makaia felt ridiculous asking for such a thing, but Blake understood completely. The girl hadn't brushed her teeth in six days; Blake would be asking for a toothbrush too.

"Absolutely." She smiled in what she hoped was a comforting manner. "Actually," Blake glanced over to the bathroom in the corner, "there might be one in there. Let me check."

Blake stood from her squatting position on the floor, using the edge of Makaia's bed for balance, and walked to the opposite corner of the room, popping her head into the tiny bathroom that contained nothing but a toilet and a sink. However, there were two toothbrushes sitting on the ledge of the sink, along with a tube of toothpaste and a bar of soap.

"You're in luck." Blake turned back to Makaia, who was already swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. "There are toothbrushes in here."

"Thanks." Makaia's smile was implied as she grabbed her IV rack and set her feet on the floor, peering over the edge of the bed as she did so, as if she expected the floor to fall out from under her. Blake took a small step towards her, just in case she fell, but Makaia walked to the opposite side of the room with no trouble, only holding the IV rack because she had to roll it along with her.

Blake stepped aside, letting the teenager into the bathroom to brush her teeth, then hovered just to the side of the doorframe, gazing at her peacefully sleeping colleague. She was surprised the commotion hadn't woken Reid, but extremely happy he was getting some sleep.

While Makaia was brushing her teeth, a nurse came into the room wheeling a cart full of plates. She nodded to Blake with a smile and pulled the swinging table-trays on each bed up, setting a plate of what looked like mac and cheese, green beans and Jell-O onto each one. The nurse left without a word, wheeling the cart with the rest of the plates on it out of the room in front of her and closing the door behind her.

Blake glanced at her watch, noting it was just past six o'clock. They had gotten in just after noon, so they had just missed lunch service, not that anyone particularly felt like eating.

The water in the bathroom turned on briefly and then off again and suddenly, Makaia materialized next to Blake.

"Feel better?" she asked with a smile.

"A bit." Makaia nodded as she headed back to her bed; Blake couldn't help but look at the blood stains all over her shirt and shorts.

"You know, we aren't too far from your house and Morgan ran out for a few minutes." Blake said as Makaia climbed back into her bed. "I could get him to stop by your place and get you a change of clothes. Pyjamas maybe? Would you be more comfortable?"

Makaia looked down at the bloodstains on her clothes as if noticing them for the first time. "I don't want to cause any inconvenience." She said quietly. So Reid-like.

"It's not inconvenient." Blake insisted.

"Thank you." Makaia nearly whispered, not meeting Blake's eyes.

"Alright, I'll call Morgan." Blake headed for the door. "You should eat something."

"Okay." Blake slipped into the hall.

Makaia clutched the shirt covered in her family's blood, not wanting to let go.

 _'_ _It's all my fault. It's all my fault. It's all my fault. It's all my fault. It's all my fault.'_

"It's all my fault." She finally said aloud after thinking it for a while.

"What's wrong?" a voice Makaia hadn't heard in what seemed like years startled her out of her mind. She jumped slightly and turned to see Dr. Reid sitting up slightly. She felt a fresh wave of guilt roll through her as she saw the claw mark across his face for the hundred and thirty seventh time.

"Hey." She said quietly, her lip twitching up the tiniest bit. "I'm so sorry about the whole face scratching thing." Makaia stared down at her hands, feeling horribly guilty.

"Don't worry about it." Reid assured. He really didn't blame her for what happened; how could he? "It wasn't you." This part was quieter. He didn't want to make Makaia feel worse. "Where's Blake?" he asked, just to change topics. He figured she was out in the hall with Morgan, talking about the case.

"She stepped out to call agent Morgan." Makaia explained, grateful for the change of subject.

"Call him?" Reid as curious. "Where did he go?"

"Coffee run." Blake explained as she walked back into the room. "And to get Makaia some clean clothes." Seeing Reid's confused and slightly alarmed expression, Blake quickly explained. "Blaine is in custody."

"That caught him?" the alarm left Reid's face, surprise replacing it.

"Not exactly…" Blake felt uneasy, knowing Reid and Makaia would both know what Blaine's trip to Malibu said about the case. "He turned himself in."

Reid's expression was relieved for a moment, but then darkened to something between solemn, angry and scared. Makaia simply looked like she was trying to hide her fear. She knew from her classes what Blaine turning himself in meant, and it was never good.

"So what's he hiding?" Reid wondered quietly, not quite realising he'd spoken aloud.

"Let's not think about that right now." Blake sat back down in her chair, looking at both geniuses and their plates of food. "Unless you want me to eat your Jell-O, I suggest you get to work on it." Blake turned to Reid, seeing the smile playing on his lips brought a grin to her own. She knew Jell-O what his favorite, and her hunch was confirmed when Makaia slowly reached for her own dessert.

"You like Jell-O too?" Reid asked, scooping a small amount of the red gel onto his spoon.

"It's my favorite dessert." Makaia smirked the tiniest bit, making Reid's smile broaden.

Blake shook her head and smiled, seeing the bond the two shared and loving the possibilities the future may hold.

S **o I know that was a kind of lame reveal of Reid's plan, but A-you don't know the whole plan and B-I probably wasn't keeping it much of a secret. I need to work on the whole "tell them about the smoke but let them infer the fire" thing.**

 **Okay, I will try my hardest to update this weekend, but no promises. As always, please review! A** **deus!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Two updates in one weekend. I'm proud of myself considering I wrote them both within 48 hours and finished all of my homework too. Haha well I don't have a useless rant today, so lets just get into the chapter!**

 **(I don't own anything blah blah blah you know the drill with the disclaimers)**

 **Have fun!**

* * *

Morgan walked into the room where Reid and Makaia currently resided. He smiled when he saw them both eating Jell-O; well, Reid was nibbling on it and Makaia was more poking it, but the dessert reminded him of Reid's anthrax scare.

 _Morgan scraped the last bit of Reid's cherry Jell-O from the container. A voice startled him as he put the spoon in his mouth. "Are you eating Jell-O?"_

 _Morgan swallowed and smiled, relieved to see his best friend awake. "Hey kid." He turned to the open door and called, "Hey, Doc. He's awake."_

 _Morgan heard Reid's voice again, and almost laughed out loud at his question. "Is there any MORE Jell-O?"_

"Hey, pretty boy." Morgan greeted, choosing to ignore the scratch marks on his face for now. "Nice to see you awake." He walked further into the room, placing the backpack he was carrying at the foot of Makaia's bed. "How're you feeling?" he asked her gently.

"Better." Makaia seemed to forget she was in a room full of profilers, but nobody mentioned that they could see right through her lie. They couldn't make her talk. Not yet at least.

"Well I grabbed some clothes for you." Morgan gestured to the bag before walking over to Blake and handing her the coffee he'd gone to pick up in the first place. He hadn't minded stopping by the Charston's house, he hated seeing the blood all over Makaia. She was too innocent for that.

"Thanks." She nodded and put her uneaten Jell-O back on the tray before getting up off the bed, grabbing the bag and going into the bathroom to change. Once inside, she locked the door and leaned back against it for a moment, letting her arm drop form the IV rack and letting her purple plaid backpack fall to the floor. She slid to the ground and buried her head in her knees.

She wasn't scared. She wasn't angry. She wasn't even sad. She just felt completely and utterly empty. Alone. She didn't even want to cry, which was good because no tears came. She just sat on the tile floor, oblivious to time passing, numb to everything.

Reid placed his half empty Jell-O container back on his tray along with his spoon, he didn't really feel like eating. Morgan sat on the edge of Reid's bed, smirking at him. The kid was more resilient than a rubber band… if you stretched those too far they snapped. But not Reid. Nothing broke him. Although, Morgan wasn't so sure that Reid would be in such a neutral state of mind in a few days. He knew Reid well enough to know that his walls were up and super reinforced at the moment. He was being strong and not telling anyone he was struggling. The team had seen this after Hankel. And after Gideon. Morgan just prayed Reid would let them in eventually.

Blake wanted-needed-to break the silence. It was too heavy. And it let her mind wander to unpleasant places, thinking about the warehouse they found Reid and Makaia in; thinking about what Reid looked like when she and JJ first found him.

"Reid." he looked up at her, his brown eyes filled with curiosity. "Did you tell Morgan your plan?"

"Plan?" Morgan asked, slightly confused. "What plan?"

"Well…" he started sheepishly. "Garcia is helping me out with something. She's getting paperwork faxed here and contacting people-"

"Spit it out, kid." Morgan chuckled. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed Reid's rambling.

"I'm going to foster Makaia." His voice was hesitant, as if he couldn't believe what he'd said. "I mean, if she wants to, of course."

"Really?" Morgan was surprised at the statement. He hadn't known Reid was open to the idea of having kids. He thought it was an amazing idea though; Reid would be an amazing father, especially to a fellow child genius.

"Yeah." Morgan saw an almost-smile creep onto Reid's lips, but the expression didn't reach his blank eyes. "When we have nonlocal cases she can stay with Garcia. I have a spare room in my apartment that used to be an office but I hardly ever use it since I moved my desk into my bedroom. And FAFSA pays for her classes so she can go back to George Mason. Plus, she already has a social worker in Virginia." Reid took a breath. Boy, did Morgan miss the rants. "I just can't let her go back into the system. Twelve neglectful, abusive houses before she got lucky. Then the only people who cared about her in five years were murdered in front of her. I can't let her do that again." Reid paused, breathing. When he started talking again, his voice was quieter. "I also promised her I'd take her to see her mother in Vegas. They haven't seen each other in five years."

"Reid, I think it's a great idea." Morgan smiled.

"Really?" Reid seemed genuinely surprised at the reaction, as if he expected Morgan to tell him that his idea was ridiculous.

"Yeah." Blake piped up. "Any kid in your custody would be the luckiest kid in the world in my books." That made Reid smirk but, again, the happiness didn't reach his eyes.

Nobody was sure why, but the conversation died there. The room was silent, with each agent thinking of the future, until Makaia came back into the room.

Blake glanced at her watch-it was nearly eight o'clock-and realized Makaia had been in the bathroom for twenty minutes. She decided not to mention it though, she probably just needed some alone time.

"The stuff I brought okay?" Morgan asked as Makaia got back into her own bed. She was now wearing grey plaid pyjama pants and a black tank top.

"Yeah, thanks." Makaia set the backpack containing a pair of black cut-offs, a blue t-shirt, a grey Caltech hoodie, two pairs of socks, a pair of black converse high tops, a hairbrush that had some elastics wrapped around the handle, a copy of The Catcher in the Rye and a small stuffed rabbit she had had since birth on the floor next to the bed. Her bloodied clothes wrapped in the plastic shopping bag she had found at the bottom of her backpack and her hair had been brushed and tied back. Morgan had certainly grabbed everything he thought would be useful. As soon as he saw the rabbit he knew he had to bring it. It was the only indicator that Makaia's room belonged to a person younger than twenty; and he fact that it sat directly in the middle of her pillow arrangement with its ears perfectly centered and its arms between it legs told Morgan it was special to her. It was placed on the made bed, not tossed there.

"Hello!" Dr. Rivers' perky voice startled everyone as she stepped into the room. The nurse that had brought the food earlier was with her, just to collect plates. The nurse did her job and let the room within thirty seconds, not saying a word to anyone. "How are you feeling Dr. Reid?" Dr. Rivers asked with a smile.

"Alright." Reid said, almost like he was bored. He was definitely distancing himself from the situation. "Just tired."

"Well I'll let you get some sleep in a moment, I've just got to check everything out first." She smiled again. God this woman was cheery. "And how about you Makaia?" How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay." Her voice was quiet and she didn't look up from the foot of her bed. "Just tired as well."

"Well I will let both of you sleep until tomorrow morning as soon as I finish up here." Another smile, bigger than the last two.

Dr. Rivers wasted no time as she fiddled with the machines and wrote notes in each genius' chart. She removed both of her patient's IVs under the condition that they had to eat breakfast the next morning. They both readily agreed, needles and tubes bringing back all too recent memories. Within five minutes, Dr. Rivers was heading to the door again and smiling over her shoulder.

"I'll see you two in the morning." She said on her way out. "Makaia, you should be able to go home tomorrow, as long as you eat." Before anything else could be said, Dr. Rivers shut the door and disappeared down the hallway.

When Makaia heard that she was going to be discharged tomorrow, she curled in on herself, feeling the empty pit in her stomach grow to the point where she felt as if she was floating in a sea of guilt and despair.

"Where am I going to go?" She wondered aloud, not even realising she'd spoken.

"Blake, Morgan." Reid said, quietly. They understood before he even asked. They both got up and left the room. Before Blake turned to go however, she handed Reid her cellphone. Once the door shut, Reid turned to Makaia, dialing Garcia's number and putting the phone on speaker before sitting up for the first time since he woke up tied to the bed.

"Blake? What's happening?" Garcia's voice came through the phone halfway through the first ring. "Is everything okay?"

"Relax Garcia." Reid said. "Everything's fine."

"Reid! Hi! How are you feeling?" Garcia's voice was so excited and oud that Makaia almost laughed. Almost.

"I'm fine." He said simply, knowing he wouldn't get long answers in with Garcia in her highly caffeinated state.

"How's Makaia doing? The poor girl. Please tell me she's okay." The tech analyst nearly whimpered as she thought about everything she'd read about the teenager.

"Makaia, meet Penelope Garcia, out tech analyst at Quantico." Reid said. "Garcia, meet Makaia."

"Hi." Makaia spoke loud enough for her voice to reach the phone.

"Oh my god, hi Makaia! How are you doing sweetheart?"

"I'm okay." Garcia could even tall that Makaia was lying and she wasn't even a profiler.

"Good, good. So to what do I owe this honor?" Garcia found it much easier to be her sparkly self again when Reid was safe and sound.

"I was just wondering about the status on my paperwork and the woman you were contacting for me?" Reid said. That piqued Makaia's interest; why would he have a conversation with Garcia about paperwork on speakerphone with Makaia in the room?

"I've faxed all the necessary documents to the hospital and I got in touch with Jillian Andrews who said she will contact Elena Reynolds and have her contact you regarding the situation ASAP."

"Elena Reynolds?" Makaia asked. "My social worker form Virgin…" She looked at Reid, eyes wide and mouth slightly open. "You mean…?"

"Makaia." Reid said, the happiness in his slight smile finally reaching his eyes. "Would you like to come live with me?"

* * *

 **What do you think? As always, please review! All the love! I hope to update by this upcoming Friday, but again, no promises. Goodbye, my lovelies.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Hey guys! I'm sorry to say that this will be the last chapter of Taking Everything :( I really hope you all enjoyed this story, because I loved writing it! Thank you so much to those who have followed my story from the beginning, and everyone who favorited, followed and reviewed!**

 **I'm fairly certain there will be a sequel in the near future, so keep an eye out for that! Also, I'm starting a Waking Dead story soon, probably within the next couple of days, so if you're a fan, watch for that too!**

 **(I don't own criminal minds or any of its characters)**

 **Lights, camera, action!**

* * *

ONE WEEK LATER

Reid walked into his apartment behind Garcia, taking in the perfect order of his home. It felt it had been years since he'd walked through these doors. The smell of old books and dust greeted him, causing a smile to play on his lips.

Garcia stepped into the open living room, pausing to wait for the geniuses behind her. Reid stepped in and placed his messenger bag on the far left end of the couch before turning to Makaia.

The teenager stood in the door of the apartment, looking unsure of herself.

"Come on." Reid nodded his head towards her. Makaia took a deep breath and stepped through the door.

"Your room," Garcia announced, gesturing down the hall, "Is right down here." Garcia started walking, grabbing Makaia's gym bag as she passed and taking it to the new room.

Makaia looked to Reid and smiled as best she could.

"You ready?" He asked.

"I guess."

Reid extended an arm and Makaia gladly ducked under it, allowing her new foster father to guide her down the hall with an arm around her shoulders. She felt safe around him, safer than she had felt in a long time.

"Thank you." Makaia said, looking up at Reid.

"No." Reid looked back down at his new daughter, adoration flooding through him. "Thank you."

* * *

 **Even though the story is over, I'd still love a final review from anybody who will post one!**

 **Ta-ta for now, my lovelies.**


End file.
